AN EXCITING new women’s only running event will take place in Cardiff for the first time next year.

It is one of ten carefully selected locations across the UK where the Women’s Running 10k will be held in 2014.

The Cardiff leg of the race series, which is now in its second year, will start and finish at Bute Park on Saturday, May 24, 2014.

The Women’s Running 10k race series has been organised by top UK magazine, Women’s Running. The magazine inspires, motivates and encourages women to improve their running. The first year of the series saw events in Bristol, Nottingham and London, with almost 2,000 women taking part.

Christina Macdonald, editor of Women’s Running said: “We received so much positive feedback from the first three events this year that we decided to extend the series, extending to new areas of the UK in 2014. Our aim is to inspire and motivate women of all ages and abilities to run, and these events provide the framework to make that happen. All women taking part will be encouraged to achieve their own personal goals, from simply getting around a 10k course, to achieving a personal best, and we will be there to help them every step of the way.”

To help runners around the ten kilometre course, Women’s Running pacers will be on hand to run with participants, to help them achieve their target time. Suitable for runners of all abilities, there will be a team of four pacers, targeting times of 50 minutes, 55 minutes, 60 minutes and a run/walk group aiming for approximately 70 minutes.

The race experience also includes a warm-up, led by an expert from Women’s Running Magazine, a technical t-shirt, a high quality drawstring goody bag and medal for every finisher, a post-race warm down with tea and cake and a personalised text message containing your race finish time and personal statistics from the day.

Christina added: “We want to provide the support for as many women as possible to start running, or help them to take their running to the next level and so offering pre-race training plans, combined with access to experienced runners in the form of pacers on race day is extremely important to us”.

Steeped in history and full of interesting trees, wildlife and horticultural features, Bute Park is a magical place to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. As Cardiff's biggest city centre public park, the event hub is close to the magnificent Cardiff Castle which runners will get the chance to see this for themselves on each of the two 5km laps that comprise a perfectly flat and fast course for runners of all levels.

In addition to the Cardiff Women’s Running 10k race, the 2014 series will see two events in London, and one event in Birmingham, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Glasgow.

Popular model turned runner, Nell McAndrew will be the ambassador for the race series again next year.

The event is now open for entries, with an early bird price of £24. For more information, top training tips and to enter, go to www.wr10k.co.uk.