South Downs Way 100 Miles Relay

The results and leg times of the 2024 Relay are now on the website (southdownsrelay.com) under the Relay Documents tab. You can also find the lists of winners and times for all teams in this and previous years' Relays.

You'll know that this is not a commercial event but any surplus that we do make is distributed amongst various good causes. Details of these are also shown on the website.

That's all for this year. We'll be back at Beachy Head on June 7th 2025.

More pictures of pain - these from James Yeardley near Harting Down. Hats off to anyone smiling at the camera!

Jun 1, 2024 210 Photos

I've just sent the draft leg times out to club contacts for them to check. If you want to see how you did (and make sure that I've got it right) then get in touch with them to see a copy. Any changes are due back to me by a week tomorrow.

Sarah Witt from Wi******er Running Club was marshalling at Holden Farm yesterday and took photographs of incoming runners. If you've never had the pleasure of running Leg 17 then just take a look at the faces - everything from joy to agony (or both). If you're featured then you can start to convince yourself that it was ok really!

www.flickr.com

I've had a couple of reports of an electric fence across the SDW just west of Exton on Leg 17. I'm in touch with the National Trail office and will be doing my best to get it removed, but if anyone happens to be running Leg 17 between now and Saturday week it would be good to have updates.

Unfortunately Horsham Joggers have had to withdraw from the Relay, but they have a minibus booked and a willing driver available for other teams. (I assume the minibus would cost but the driver would do it for soft drinks!) If this could be of interest to other teams, let me know and I'll pass the message on.

Finally from me (for now) my annual plea that when you're out and about doing a recce of your legs (which is highly recommended, by the way), do keep your eyes open for anything that might affect either the runners or the support vehicles on race day. It could be route diversions, road works, other events taking place, whatever - if you think it could be an issue then just let me know.

If you're running Leg 7 or Leg 8 you need to know about a new changeover point, made possible by the welcome sight of a road crossing island on the A283. It means the Leg 7 runner has another third of a mile or so to run, and the Leg 8 runner loses that distance. Club contacts have full details and the location of the new changeover is in the Rules and the 'What Three Words' documents on the website.

We're getting ready for the next South Downs Way 100 Miles Relay on Saturday 1st June. We'll have about 50 teams taking part, including a couple of new clubs enjoying the Relay for the first time. Whether it's your thirtieth time or your first, there are plenty of resources available on the Relay website to help you. Go to southdownsrelay.com and you'll find everything you need under 'Race Documents'. The 'Rules' document sounds a bit forbidding but it's essentially the Users' Guide to the Relay. Out of all the questions we get asked every year I'd say 99% are already answered in the Rules. There's a section on each leg with guidance on the route and general information.

If you want maps then you can find them on Plotaroute here: https://www.plotaroute.com/routecollection/3551 I must admit I'd forgotten it was there until someone reminded me today, so I've been through and updated any changes to the start or finish of legs that we've made in the last few years. Plotaroute is free, or for £20 a year you get OS Maps and some other bells and whistles in the Premium version.

If you still can't find the answer to your question in any of these then do shout - but expect to be asked whether you've read the Rules!

South Downs Way 100 Miles Relay on plotaroute.com South Downs Way 100 Miles Relay is a collection of 18 routes between 3.70 miles and 8.66 miles in length, mapped and shared on the route planning website plotaroute.com

That's not quite all for this year . . . here's Richard, suitably attired, presenting an enormous cheque to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund.
Other beneficiaries this year were Medecins Sans Frontieres, to support their work in Ukraine, and The South Downs National Park, who maintain the South Downs Way which we rather rely on.

The full results and individual leg times are now on the Relay website (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ek5LOy554IJ-43Lj0nO1YgZnVz_ksNpD), so you can see how your times compared with everyone else's.
That's all for this year. The 2024 Relay will be on Saturday 1st June.

Sarah Witt was marshalling at Holden Farm and took some great photos of incoming runners and baton passing on Saturday. You can find them here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAGvMb. So if you were one of the brave souls who ran Leg 17 you can see how good you looked after nearly 9 miles!

South Downs Way Relay June 2023 Photos from the last changeover at Holden Farm.

If you happen to live near Storrington or are driving between there and Amberley, could you have a look to see whether the lane leading up to the Leg 9/10 changeover at Springhead Hill is open? It was closed yesterday and again this morning, apparently because potholes were being repaired. The workmen assured me that it would be open for the weekend - although they also said it would be open today but it wasn't! It would be good to have confirmation that we have access if you happen to be passing.

If you're running Leg 7 or Leg 8 in the Relay, or if you're driving a team, then you need to know about some changes at the A283 Leg 7/8 changeover. These have been made to avoid vehicles getting trapped in traffic jams on the A27. Club contacts have all the details, but basically the Leg 8 runner can be dropped off near the changeover point to make sure that there's enough time for you to reach the changeover before the Leg 7 runner arrives. It'll still be a two baton changeover, so grabbing baton on the east side of the road and running across will probably mean your Relay is over.

We'll cover all this at the pre-race briefing, but even better if you're already aware.

Planning for the 2023 Relay is now well underway, with not much more than seven weeks to go. Invitations have been confirmed and no doubt plenty of runners are already going out to recce their legs. When you do that it would be great if you could keep your eyes open for anything that might have an impact on June 3rd. One year, for example, we found out that there was a skateboarding championship on the lane up to Bo Peep only because someone spotted a sign at the bottom of that road. So whether it's a road closure, a diversion or anything else a bit odd we'd love to know about it.

If you've got any questions about the Relay, and especially if you're new to the event, the best place to look is in the Rules. They're on the website (southdownsrelay.com) under the Race Documents. If you can't find what you want there, then by all means ask here

I've just sent the detailed leg times to club contacts, so if you want to see how you did compared to others then let them know. As always I've asked for them to be circulated so that you can check your own times and correct my data entry gaffes. I've asked to have any changes back to me by Friday week.

You might also like to see the photographs of the Holden Farm changeover, taken by Sarah Witt and the Wi******er & District AC marshals. You can find them here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzSf1A

South Downs Way Relay May 2022 Explore this photo album by Sarah Witt on Flickr!

Steyning are also a runner short - is anyone able to help. It's an A team with an 8.00 start, so any age and gender would be fine. There have been a number of teams dropping out, so there should be a lot of frustrated Relay runners out there . . .

As you were - there’s another vacancy in the Basingstoke Ladies team, who have a poorly runner. Can you help, or do you know of anyone who might? Elaine would love to hear from you.

We're looking for a replacement runner for Basingstoke and Mid-Hants Ladies team. If you're interested or know of anyone who is you can send a message to Elaine Liversage on Facebook. (I'm not clever enough to know how to link that to her account!)

If you're running Leg 4 or 5 this year, make sure you're familiar with the slight change to the changeover location. And if you're driving, you need to be aware of a major change to parking arrangement this year. Club contacts have all the details on both of these.

It's that time when an injury or two can throw plans out completely and lead to teams having to withdraw. That's already been the case for some. But this means that there are plenty of runners out there who are fit and ready to run but no longer have a team. If you get a late injury and need a substitute then there's quite a pool to draw on. If that happens to your team let me know, and someone might be able to save the day.

You may remember that last year there was a new Cadence Café at the Leg11/12 changeover at Littleton Farm. That one is still there and it'll be joined this year by a new café at Holden Farm, the Leg 17/18 changeover. I'm hoping they'll stay open late enough for all teams (other than the seriously lost), which will be good news for anyone who isn't running Leg 18.

Some of you may have noticed that the road leading up from the main road west of Storrington to the car park at Springhead Hill (the Leg 9/10 changeover) is closed. I understand that this is the result of some safety concerns and I'm trying to establish when it might re-open. We have a couple of contingency options if the closure is expected to continue and will decide over the next couple of weeks whether to put something in place, so watch this space.
JC

The countdown to the 2022 Relay has begun, and invitations have been sent out. For many years we've held the Relay on the first Saturday in June, but last year it was delayed by Covid restrictions and this year it's being brought forward to avoid clashing with the four-day bank holiday weekend. So it'll be Saturday 28th May.

As always, if you're out on the South Downs Way - whether it's to recce a leg or just because it's a wonderful place to be - and you spot something that could affect the Relay, it would be great if you could let us know. It could be a route diversion, a planned event, anything at all. For example, one year someone spotted that there was a skateboarding competition which closed the road leading up to Bo Peep. Finding out about that early meant we could avoid absolute chaos!

If you've got any questions about the event, the answer is almost always to be found in the Rules on the Relay website (www.southdownsrelay.com) so do please take a bit of time to read through those.

www.southdownsrelay.com

The final results for the 2021 Relay are now on the website under the Results tab, including all the individual leg times.

Congratulations to Lewes Ladies who set a new course record of 12:04:07, taking more than five minutes off the previous record.

The date for the 2022 Relay will be Saturday 28th May. This is a departure (again) from the usual first Saturday in June, because that date falls in the middle of a four day bank holiday weekend, when many runners might not be available.

See you then

Richard and Jonathan

The results of last Saturday's Relay, including your individual leg times, are now with club contacts. If you'd like to see (and also check) your times then do get in touch with them. On Sunday week the window for challenges and corrections will close, so don't leave it too long!

It's a late, late call but Victory AC need a runner. Can you be at Beachy Head by 6.00 tomorrow morning? If you can, this is your chance. Let me know.

If you're running Leg 15 this year I'm afraid you're going to have to run a little bit further. We're not able to use any facilities at the Sustainability Centre (that includes car park, loos and cafe) so we've shifted the changeover point and parking about 100 yards west to the point where the SDW leaves the road. Drivers can find details of new parking arrangements in the Guidance Notes on the website.

It's a new facility which we're able to use and in the long term it might well be a better option. The landowner has been incredibly helpful, so I'd ask everyone to make sure they treat his property with all due respect. I'm sure I don't need to say this, but it's as well to be sure.

Leg 16 will be a wee bit shorter, of course.

Yesterday's announcement that virtually all restrictions are to be lifted from next Monday means that we'll be able to go ahead with the Relay on 24th July. Between now and then it'll be all systems go to get everything ready, and we'll make sure we have a great day on Saturday week.

As some of you may know, we're pleased to say that 33 teams have said that they're able to make the new date, and so the Relay will go ahead on Saturday July 24th 2021. Of course this is still subject to all lockdown restrictions being lifted on July 19th.

So it'll be something of a slimmed down Relay without many familiar faces, but still something to look forward to. We're just sorry that so many will miss out. It's worth bearing in mind that there's an army of potential reserves out there, so if any of the 33 teams running find themselves dealing with late drop outs it would be well worth putting out a call to see whether someone can fill that space.