Glastonbury Festival 2024: Hundreds attend Ravers2Runners dash around Worthy Farm

Hundreds got their running gear on for the five kilometre loop around Worthy Farm. Credit: ITV West Country

When my alarm went off this morning (Thursday 27 June), I thought twice about starting my day at Glastonbury Festival with a five kilometre run.

The unpredicted drizzle was enough to slightly dampen my spirits but low and behold I made my way over to the Greenpeace stage to see what the Ravers2Runners event was all about.

When I arrived, I was overwhelmed by the number of people who also thought it was a good idea to go for a run around Glastonbury, I imagine lots of revellers here couldn't imagine anything worse.

Speaking with some of those attending, there were a whole array of reasons why they'd turned out (some more begrudgingly than others).

Runners made their way past iconic festival landmarks including the Pyramid stage.

"It's something different at Glastonbury, and supporting Greenpeace"

"We got talked into it by one of our other mates, but whilst we're here we thought we'd give it a go", said another.

"Trying to keep fit while we're here, instead of just drinking"

Another said they were "excited to see it in a different way".

Once the warm up was underway, the sun started to come out and I felt quite excited by the prospect of exploring the festival site with a group of new friendly faces.

Ravers2Runners was founded by music lovers in Bristol and this is their third year at Glastonbury.

Founder, Jo Bryan-Smith said "It's absolutely wild, two years ago there was five of us running it from Ravers2Runners and last year we had about 250, and this year we have 450 running - but the demand has been double that".

With no further ado the run commenced and we made our way towards the famous 'hill' with the Glastonbury sign - running up the incline proved a little difficult, but I made a friend Paul who was 58 and was "enjoying the challenge", we encouraged each other all the way to the top - he was a big help!

Ravers2Runners was founded by Jo Bryan-Smith (left) and this is their third year at Glastonbury. Credit: ITV West Country

Once we made it up there, the view of the site was definitely worth it.

"It's so nice to be up here, I've never made it up to the sign before", someone told me.

We then made our way over to the Pyramid Stage for a group picture before heading back to base.

Post run the endorphins were flowing.

"Loved it, such a shared experience" one said.

Another said they thought it was "brilliant" but he was a bit worried about how his legs might feel later in the day.

One father who was encouraged to run by his son was upfront with the honesty: "I'm exhausted, I'm terrible" he said, however his son thought "it was great".

An epic start to the day with the smug festival goers around me earning themselves a few days of festival indulgence.

  • Watch Verity's report on ITVX here