Friday December 6th 2024, Helen Garden, Eastbourne. BN20 7XL.
10am: Registration Opens
11.45am: Registration Closes
12pm: Race start
11pm: Race finishes (Saturday 7th December)
The race will start and finish in Helen Garden, Eastbourne. There is plenty of parking in the nearby streets and Eastbourne train station is a 20 min walk away. There will be toilets available with food and drink also.
Race bibs will not be sent out but must be collected at registration.
There will be 14 very well stocked aid stations along the route which are listed below with 9 of these being indoors. Aid stations will carry a wide range of food and drink. They will cater for everyone’s needs including vegan, vegetarian and gluten free.
As a minimum, the below will be available at the aid stations:
All runners must be finished by 11pm on Saturday December 7th. There are no cutoffs until mile 26 and then roughly every 15-20 miles after this. These are shown in the table above.
Pacers will be allowed to accompany runners from Findon aid station at the Village Hall, mile 50
There are local residents nearby the aid station in Findon so crews must please be super quiet while parking and waiting for their runner.
Spectators and crews are very welcome to come along and support their runners throughout the day. It is however very important for the future of the race that they behave in a sensible manner throughout. There are privately owned car parks along the route that can become overcrowded very quickly, and spectators must take it upon themselves to follow the rules of any certain car park. Not following these rules by parking on grass verges and in places that aren’t official parking spaces etc just because they are there to watch the race will not go down well, and could put the future of the race in jeopardy. If a certain car park is full, then please just move on to the next one.
Crews will be allowed to help runners almost anywhere along the route and we strongly recommend you bring a crew with you. If the weather is bad it will be really beneficial to have them meet you at regular intervals with dry clothes, shoes etc.
Spectators and crews must however, not attend at any of the aid station locations. If they turn up at these locations we will disqualify the runner. This is due to landowner requests, so it is very important to abide.
Runners will also have the option of leaving a finish line bag at registration. This is limited to one bag per runner. Please ensure the bag is clearly marked with your name and bib number.
Runners will have the option of leaving 2 drop bags at registration. These bags will be transported to the Findon Village Hall aid station (mile 51) and the Glynde aid station (mile 84) Here they will be kept safe and ready for your collection. Please keep these bags as small as possible. There is a chance the route will be flooded in places. These areas are few and far between however, there is the possibility of getting wet feet. If it’s a cold day, running with wet feet can become a problem so we strongly recommend having a drop bag especially if you don’t have a crew. Include dry socks and shoes in this bag along with spare clothing. These will all be transported back to the finish and will arrive by about 7pm. If you finish before this and don’t want to wait then we can hold the bag for collection the following week or post it to you if you are willing to cover postage costs.
The course is predominantly on easy going trails with small road sections as well. At the time of year the race takes place the ground should be soft, wet, muddy and possibly frozen. We therefore suggest that trail shoes with moderate to aggressive grip are suitable. We will update all runners of the trail condition the week of the race.
Runners must carry the following equipment with them at all times and will be disqualified for failing kit checks. Inspections will take place before, during, and after the race.
It is not mandatory but we do suggest you bring a foldable cup as the race will be cup less.
Some of the route will be on the South Downs Way and on these sections there will be South Downs Way, way-marker posts showing the Acorn sign symbolising a National Trail. We will mark the route mainly UK Ultra arrows, UK Ultra ribbons and ground flags. A map and compass are not necessary by although, never a bad idea.
Even though the course will be thoroughly marked, it is the runner’s responsibility to navigate it successfully. We do however suggest you try and recce the route as much as possible, and it is mandatory to download the GPX file onto your GPS/mobile device. The markings should be more than enough for everyone to navigate the route however, unfortunately, sometimes markers do get removed by members of the public or turned in the opposite direction and visibility during thick fog can sometimes be tricky. Even though we will mark the route as thoroughly as possible, please don't rely on this. Having the GPX downloaded will save you a lot of hassle in this situation as it is very accurate, and you can easily navigate the route with this alone if markers are tampered with or visibility is low. We will also have recce runs available throughout the year that runners can join in to see the route.
There will be an experienced team of race medics available to runners before, during and after the event including first aid teams, response cars and ambulances. There is the possibility due to some locations on the course that the medical team might take some time to reach you. In this situation you should call 999.