Welcome to a bumper Easter weekend of fixtures as displayed on runABC South's event listing where there are more than 30 races to help you burn off those chocolate-induced calories!

Easter seems early this year, which got our reporter Alan wondering. There is a simple explanation. As a moveable feast, the date of Easter is determined through a calculation known as computus (Latin for 'computation'). Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. The date for the vernal equinox was based on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21, but if the full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter is delayed a week. There you are, it's simple!

One anomaly this year is that Easter coincides with the clock change – Spring forward, remember – and that fact is celebrated by Wiltshire Council's 16th Clock Change Challenge 10K, 5K, and 1.5K Fun Run at Calne Community Campus on Sunday 31 March – enter here.

If you fancy a trip 'abroad' to the Isle of Wight our reporter Alan can recommend Ryde Harriers' Newport to Ryde 7 on Saturday (30 March) and the classic West Wight 3 Hills on Easter Monday (1 April). The former is an undulating 7-mile multi-terrain race and the latter is an even hillier multi-terrain 8 miler, with 900 feet of ascent and fabulous views of The Needles at Freshwater – be quick, entries close at midnight on Sunday night (24 March).

However, this year you are more likely to find our roving reporter at the Folkestone 10 on Good Friday for the 40th-anniversary thrash along the Kent coastline between Hythe and Folkestone – entries close at 10:00am on Wednesday (27 March) and there's none on the day.

Other traditional events embracing the Easter holiday theme include the Maidenhead Easter 10, St Albans Easter 10K, and the Crown to Crown Good Friday 5 Trail Race at Basildon – all on Good Friday.

Keep your powder dry until Easter Monday and you could sort out that waistline at Nice Work's London Easter 10K in Regents Park, Shapwick Bunny Hop 7.5 miles near Street, Somerset, or the Easter Bunny 10K at Yeovil, also in Somerset.

View all the Easter fixtures at runABC South's comprehensive race listing here.

Image courtesy alirazagurmani on Pixabay