South Downs Way 100 - 5th place / 14:16 Race Report

The Lead-up

This was the main focus of my year running-wise. After a disappointing DNF 80 miles into Spine Challenger South in January, the next six months were meant to be a sensible build towards South Downs Way. The preparation wasn't entirely smooth sailing, but in the crucial weeks before the race, I found a real groove in training and arrived at the start line as ultra fit as I've ever been.

As part of the prep, I planned to race the Hundred Hills 50k in March and the Istria 69k in April. February was spent trying to get a bit of speed while also building volume. Most of the sessions were prescribed by my coach Sarah Cameron, with me generally fitting in what I could on the easy days, doing quite a bit of indoor cycling to supplement the running. About 10 days before Hundred Hills, I slightly tweaked my left calf doing an alternating 200s session on the track — one of the only workouts that was entirely my idea. It's the kind of session I love, but it seems it's also rather high risk, high reward, with the fairly fast paces and limited recoveries.

I was able to jog a few days later and tested it a few times before race day; I was pretty confident it would be okay — and it probably would have been, had I paced things a little more sensibly. Instead, I went out and tried to push the early climbs and the calf quickly started to grumble. It got steadily more painful and I decided to drop at halfway. I knew the calf would improve in time, but not finishing the race stung more than I expected. I felt like I was in good shape, and the advantage of running on your home trails is significant — it felt like a real opportunity slipping away, and there's no version of a DNF that doesn't sit with you for a while afterwards.

After that race I had to take four days off running and only really jogged for the next week. This wasn't ideal preparation for Istria, which was only a month later, but it might have been a blessing in disguise for South Downs Way. I spent the next few weeks trying to get fitness through easy running and cycling volume. I went into Istria knowing I'd need to be conservative to have any chance of getting through without re-injuring the calf. In the end, that conservative approach seemed to work well, as I moved through the field on a hot day to finish 10th in roughly the time the UTMB algorithm had predicted. It wasn't a brilliant result, but it was solid, and I bounced back incredibly quickly.

The week following Istria, I got in just over 10 hours of running. For the next six weeks I averaged 110 miles per week, and a little over 10,000 feet of climbing, some of that on the treadmill. Throughout this six-week block, I focused on easy miles, runnable hills, and mainly LT1 training. I felt incredibly good throughout and was pretty shocked at how well my body seemed to be dealing with the volume. I was still somewhat wary of my calf, especially running faster than LT1 on the flat, but for the most part, I was injury-free and feeling good. The week before the race I had planned to drop to about 90 miles, though Sarah encouraged me to go for 75. In the end, I ran 66 — not because I had any issues or didn't have time, but just because it was what felt right. The week of the race, I did just over 20 miles, with 10 of those coming from an easy double session on Tuesday.

The Race

Having run this race back in 2021, I knew what I was in for and some of the pitfalls I'd need to avoid: namely overheating and under-eating. James White and Marion Crawford, who helped me five years ago, were back again, along with my coach, Sarah Cameron, who had arranged some pretty amazing accommodation for the night before the race. I also had the help of Alex Hamlet and Dave Phillips as pacers.

Knowing I didn't need to think too much about logistics certainly helped me relax before the race. The favourable forecast and the knowledge that I was on the long list of pre-race favourites, but ranked outside the top five, also put me at ease. I slept fairly well the night before, with a few brief wake-ups and surges of adrenaline. When my alarm did go off, I felt well-rested and ready to go. After a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we made the short drive to the start. In time, I made my way to the line and placed myself just behind Barney Plummer, a runner I expected to outperform the predictions. We all had a bit of a laugh as Hugh Tibbs came sprinting up the gravel track to make the start just 30 seconds before the gun went off — not the way you want to start a 100-mile race!

The Crew: L to R - Sarah, me, Marion and James

I was a little concerned the lead guys would go out insanely fast and I'd have to decide whether to go with them, but the pace for the first few miles seemed relatively comfortable. My first mile came out as a 6:57 GAP (grade adjusted pace), and it slowed very slightly after that. My heart rate seemed to be in a good place and it felt easy, so I just went with it. There was quite a bit of chatting, but I didn't know anyone particularly well so mostly kept quiet. I did speak a bit with previous winner Tim Bradley, who ran an impressive sub-16 in much, much hotter conditions. I stuck with the pack for about six miles, but when we hit a stretch of slightly uphill road, I let a group of about 10 or 12 run ahead and create a gap. I sat in that position on my own until about mile 14 or 15, when we hit one of the first big climbs of the race. I ran most of that hill, and that's where eventual winner David Green went past me. He was climbing a lot faster than me, which was interesting, given I'd thought this would be one of my strengths in the race. If he hadn't just run the third-fastest time ever at South Downs Way 50, I'd have thought he was going too hard. Shortly after he passed, so did Joe Turner and Sarah Webster. Towards the top of that climb, there's a very steep section which I remember trying to run in 2021 and realising afterwards I should have walked. Sarah was the only one of us to run the whole thing.

Shortly after this, I was already a little worried, as my left hamstring was starting to feel a bit tight — an issue I've dealt with before in long races. I made a conscious effort to drink a bit more and take on more salt, and I'd pretty much forgotten about it by the time I reached Queen Elizabeth Park at around 24 miles. There I had my first crew access, and put on an ice bandana for the first time; what an incredible feeling! These things really make a difference. I was passed by a few other runners at this point, including eventual 2nd-place finisher Matt Hammerton. I knew I was more or less on Mark Darbyshire's course record splits from the year before, though, so I didn't dare go any faster.

From there, I was on my own for quite a while. I passed Ajay Hanspal around mile 36, though he had his headphones in and didn't seem to be having a great time. I was starting to warm up a bit, so getting to any crew point was a relief, and the Calippo bar Sarah had brought to the farm at 45 miles was a nice surprise. I picked up my first pacer, James, at 51 miles. Before we'd reached Washington at 54 miles we'd passed Tim Bradley, and also saw a couple of guys on the out-and-back to the checkpoint. The climb out of Washington was tough, but I was buoyed by the fact that we were catching people. Descending to the next checkpoint, my legs were moving well, and James was intelligently telling me not to chase too hard when we spotted both Alistair Courtney and Joe Turner ahead. We went past Joe just before the aid station — he seemed to be having hip issues, and I gave him a pat on the back and genuinely felt for him. I'd thought he had a decent chance of winning the race, but these things often don't go to plan.

I ran fairly hard out of that checkpoint to catch Alistair, then pushed a little up the next hill to create a gap. James checked back for me — nobody in sight, which felt almost too good to be true. Then, on a long, slightly uphill road section, we spotted Simon Withers, the second-seeded runner. Another boost, though James kept telling me to stay calm and not chase too hard. Within about 25 metres of him, I told James we'd try a small push past. To my surprise, Simon went with it — for the next 10 miles he was never far behind, struggling a touch on the climbs but doggedly clawing time back on the descents. I don't really know the guy, but he strikes me as incredibly tough.

At Devil's Dyke, around mile 66, James handed pacing duty over to Alex Hamlet. For a few miles I was able to forget about the race and just catch up with Alex, who I hadn't seen in months — little breaks like that are quite nice when you're focusing so hard for so long. Shortly after the next checkpoint we ran through a large group who looked like they were about to head out on a walk; they gave me a loud cheer as I passed, and I started up a fairly steep climb. A minute or two later, we heard another loud cheer further down — incredibly demoralising. I'd had no idea Simon was that close, and it pushed my effort up again. We ran to Clayton Windmills, where Sarah had another ice bandana waiting, and carried on along the top. A few miles further, I asked Alex to check behind for Simon. "Yeah, I think he's there." Shit! I really hate that feeling of having someone behind you late in a race.

I took most of the descent to Housedean fairly quickly (or so it felt) and ran the entire climb through the woods before the farm. I refilled quickly at the checkpoint and set off up the next long, exposed climb. Alex nudged the effort up ever so slightly, and around here I started hearing that Sarah Webster wasn't far ahead. The first few times people told me this, I didn't really believe I'd catch her — I was just focused on staying moving. But as I heard it more, I began thinking about the final push that was coming with Dave over the last 13 miles.

It was perhaps with that push in mind, or perhaps because my stomach was starting to feel a little unsettled, that my last few miles with Alex dropped off slightly — the calm before the storm.

At Firle Bostal, Sarah gave me one last ice bandana and, at my request, filled both bottles with Coke. Dave hustled me out of the checkpoint, which I wasn't really in the mood for at the time, but in retrospect was exactly what I needed. Having chugged a fair amount of Coke at the car, it took me about a mile to get my body moving properly again — some of that the caffeine, some of it probably Dave shouting at me. I can't really remember what he said, but it worked. I started grunting and talking to myself, which he was actively encouraging, and we began clicking off some fairly fast miles. He told me there were two big climbs ahead, that they'd suck, but we needed to run all of them. By this point the adrenaline was flowing and I was game.

Though catching Sarah felt a little more real now, the bigger motivator by far was just emptying the tank completely. I'd spent all day running a smart, controlled race precisely so I could move well at the end, and now I had the last climbs and descents to let loose on. We did catch Sarah climbing out of Alfriston — she was walking quickly with her pacer while I pushed hard. No words exchanged, just some kind of encouraging gesture from me as we went by. Dave stopped for a pee near the top of that climb and took nearly a mile to catch back up, which was a decent confidence boost in itself. Worth saying: Dave had just completed, and won, a backyard ultra finishing on the Tuesday morning after 67 hours, so he wasn't exactly fresh — and it turned out he was running on a slightly injured hip, one he hasn't been right on since pacing me. I feel a bit shit about that, honestly, but that's the kind of guy Dave is. I think he enjoys that sort of challenge. Probably not the injury part, though.

With the pacers: L to R - Dave, James, me and Alex

We ran the next climb out of Jevington too, with a little less gusto. It was pretty clear by now I wouldn't be caught, and equally clear I wasn't going to catch Barney in 4th. So I kept pushing, but not like a maniac. We descended into Eastbourne and ran well to the track, though by this point I was mostly just trying to soak in what was happening. I half expected to cross the line and burst into tears; I didn't. Instead, I ran the final 300 metres around the track with an immense feeling of pride and gratitude — that particular cocktail of relief and disbelief that only really shows up after you've spent fourteen-plus hours asking quite a lot of yourself. I crossed the line in 5th, in 14:16:41 — nearly 15 minutes faster than what I'd thought was a very ambitious A goal, and ahead of my pre-race ranking. Everything had come together even better than I'd hoped.

Training Details

I bounced ideas off a number of people in the lead-up to this race. First and foremost, Sarah (Cameron, not Webster) and I were in constant communication, making sure I was well-prepared. The things she emphasised, which I likely would have neglected left to my own devices, were heat training, nutrition, and downhill conditioning — all of which served me incredibly well on race day. We did a few continuous hills sessions that helped condition my legs, but the standout was one 16 days out from the race: 10x1' hard downhill plus 3x10' continuous hills. It didn't feel especially hard at the time, but I was pretty sore for days afterwards, and I think that session is a big part of why I held things together so well late in the race.

For heat training, I made one or two trips to the sauna, but mostly relied on hot baths after easy runs, or easy runs during the May heatwave, to acclimate. On May 23rd I did a 50k around the Chilterns with some uphill efforts in temperatures pushing close to 30 degrees. On May 25th, a 29-mile "easy" run saw temperatures well over 30. On the drive home from both, I turned the heat up to maximum in the car (Jim Walmsley style) — unpleasant, but seemingly effective. During these runs I took on more calories than usual without issue, though it did mean drinking a lot more water to make it work.

I also spoke and texted pretty regularly with Mark Darbyshire in the run-up. My initial plan was to try to run under 15 hours; Mark encouraged me to be more ambitious — something like "you should be aiming for at least 14:30." Part of me thought that sounded ridiculous, but part of me knew that if I wanted to be in the mix, that's what it would take. He also emphasised the importance of uphill treadmill training, which didn't fully make sense to me at the time but does now: to compete anywhere near the front, you need to run basically all of the climbs. I finished nearly an hour behind David Green, having run basically every step of the course — just slower than he did.

That advice mostly shaped the three weeks before the race. Uphill running has generally been a relative strength of mine, while my flat efficiency is fairly poor compared to the people who finish around me, so much of the early block went into flat or rolling trails working on LT1 efficiency. I think I gained a lot from that and still have room to improve there. That said, watching David Green go past me on a hill as though I wasn't moving suggests the uphills need work too.

All in all, I'm incredibly happy with this result. Though I was hoping to get on the podium, I never dreamed I'd run such a quick time. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but I feel like I took a big step forward in fitness and race execution. I put in the time, I didn't get greedy, and it paid off in the end.