Saturday 6th December 2025, East Dean Village Hall, Eastbourne, BN20 0DR
5.30 am: Registration opens
7.15 am: Registration closes
7.30 am: Race start
11 pm: Race finish
Race HQ will be in East Dean Village Hall. Race registration will take place here and it will be the start/finish area. There is plenty of free parking in the nearby streets and also in the large fields opposite the hall. Eastbourne train station is 10 mins away. There will be toilets available throughout with free hot food and drink also after the race for runners only.
Race numbers will not be sent out in the post but, must be collected at registration along with a GPS tracker.
The start/finish location is situated in East Dean Village just to the west of Eastbourne. There are a few accommodation choices in or near to the village but also many more on the seafront in nearby Eastbourne where there are a number of options. Eastbourne is also the closest train station to East Dean.
There will be a bus option available to collect runners in Eastbourne on Saturday morning and take them to the start. This can be booked when signing up for the race or via the link below. After the race there will be a regular shuttle bus taking runners back to Eastbourne. This does not need to be booked but will leave outside the hall every hour or so.
There will be 7 very well stocked aid stations along the route which are listed below. 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 all aid stations. From experience to reduce waste, the earlier stations will have fewer options but as the race progresses more will become available:
All runners must be finished by 11pm and have 15 and a half hours to complete the course. There are cutoffs at some aid stations along the route shown in the table above. We aren't overly strict on the cutoff times as we want everyone to finish so, please use these times as a rough guide. We will give you a bit of wiggle room but not too much.
Pacers are not allowed at any time during the race.
Spectators and crews must not attend at any of the aid station locations and also nowhere near Housedean Farm in general or in the Villages of Offham, Glynde, Alfriston and Jevington. This gets said every time and still they try to turn up at these places. If they turn up at these locations we will disqualify the runner. This is due to landowner requests and the villages being very small residential areas, so it is very important to abide. We must not upset the Landowners or locals. Runners are responsible for their crew and supporters, so it is down to you to pass this Information onto them.
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.
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. However, with our regular aid stations, volunteers and drop bag service it is not a problem to run without a crew.
These are some good places for crews to meet runners. Please try to avoid crewing before these points. The 55 miler will have around 250 runners so we can't risk having big clusters of crews meeting runners early in the race, especially as lots of the early miles are very limited areas to do so. These below places will enable runners to be quite spread out by the time they reach them:
Mile 35 Lewes https://w3w.co/hawks.swimsuits.hikes
Crew can meet runners in the High Street.
Mile 41.5 Firle Beacon https://w3w.co/proud.pumps.outsmart
Crew can park in the carpark here but must walk a few minutes along the SDW towards Eastbourne to meet runners on the route..
Mile 42.5 Bo Peep https://w3w.co/perch.light.infuses
Crew can meet runners in the carpark which is directly on the SDW.
Mile 51 Butts Brow https://w3w.co/mild.puff.cope
Small carpark which the route runs directly through.
There will not be an official sweeper vehicle in operation during the event to collect runners that can no longer continue. We will do all we can to help, but there is often a long waiting time for this, and there is only so much we can do to support runners in this situation. It is essentially the runner’s responsibility to plan ahead in the situation they do have to drop out of the race, to arrange support and transport to get home. Our main priority when runners drop out is with runners still in the race. We will do what we can to help but, please plan ahead for this by arranging your own transport and it is mandatory to bring cash and a bank card for local transport/taxi. If we are able to arrange transportation it will only be able to take you to nearby aid stations, local transport locations etc. It will not be able to take you to the finish line unless you decide to drop out late into the race and the journey is not too far.
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 a drop bag at registration. This bag will be transported to the Offham aid station, mile 33. Here it will be kept safe and ready for your collection. Please keep these bags as small as possible. and clearly labelled with your name and race number. 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 from this and obviously from potential rain. 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. These will all be transported back to the finish and will arrive by about 6pm. 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 even frozen. We therefore suggest that trail shoes with a moderate to aggressive grip are suitable. We will send more details out during race week to confirm the underfoot conditions.
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.
A large part 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. However, large parts will also not be on the SDW. We will mark the entire route mainly with UK Ultra arrows but also, UK Ultra ribbons and ground flags. A map and compass are not necessary at all 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. For Information on these recce runs then please head the the Trail Run Explorers website. This is a small local company that take the guided runs for us. https://trailrunexplorers.com/
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.