South Downs Way 50 Mile
- Total distance: 80.5 km
- Location: Worthing
- Race Date: 10 Apr 2027
- Finish rate: 93%
- Navigation: Partial Self-Navigation
- Nearest Station: Worthing (2.2 km)
- Aid Stations: 8
- Night Running: 0.7% in darkness
- Pacing Complexity: High (53/100)
South Downs Way 50 Mile Overview
No overview text has been written for this race yet.
Quick Facts
- Entrance Cost: Unknown
- Organiser: Centurion Running
- Start Town: Worthing
- Dogs Allowed: Unknown
- Start Date: 10 Apr 2027
- End Date: 10 Apr 2027
- Start Time: 8:30 AM
- Final Cut-off: 13 hours
Navigation
- Type: Partial Self-Navigation
- Closest Train Station: Worthing
- Distance from Start Line: 2.2 km
Eligibility
- Minimum Age: 20 years
- Gender Eligibility: All genders
- Minimum Entry Criteria: You must have completed a race of at least Marathon within the last 5 years.
Terrain & Elevation
The course covers a genuine mix of surfaces, with trail (36%) and gravel (34%) being the most common and neither clearly dominating. The terrain is highly fragmented, switching roughly every kilometre. This demands constant mental engagement and limits the ability to build a sustained rhythm from surface consistency alone. Uphills are predominantly on trail (65% of ascending sections). Downhills are spread across a mix of surfaces, with gravel most common.
- Trail / Path36% · 27.4 km
- Gravel / Track34% · 26.3 km
- Grass18% · 13.5 km
- Paved Road12% · 9.3 km
- Off-road / Unknown0% · 0.1 km
Distance
78.9 km
Ascent
1918 m
Descent
1932 m
High Point
243 m
This race has a gentle descent from around km 12, before a short, steady climb until about 22km, before a short, gentle drop until about 44km, before a short, gentle drop for the final 29km.
Compared against 27 other races of a similar distance, South Downs Way 50 Mile has more total elevation gain than 19% of them, and more elevation gain per kilometre than 30% of them — flatter than most races of this distance.
Source: GPX Data
Climate
Navigation
South Downs Way 50 Mile is partial self-navigation: some sections are marked, but runners are expected to navigate independently — with a map, compass, or GPX file — for the rest of the course.
Source: Race Website - Implicit
Aid Stations
Stations
You'll need to keep an average pace of 6.3 km/h between aid stations to make the cut offs.
Stations
| KM | Name | Gap from Prev | Cut-off | Water | Cold Food | Hot Food | Hot Drinks | Gels | Medic | WC | Bags | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | 0.0 km | 0h | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 17.5 | 17.5 km | 3h | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – | – | |
| 27.4 | 9.8 km | 4h 30m | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | – | – | – | |
| 43.5 | 16.1 km | 7h 10m | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | |
| 54.7 | 11.3 km | 8h 50m | ✓ | – | – | – | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | |
| 66.9 | 12.2 km | 10h 50m | ✓ | – | – | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | |
| 73.5 | 6.6 km | 11h 55m | ✓ | – | – | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – | – | |
| 80.5 | 6.9 km | 13h | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
None of the aid stations on this course are confirmed to offer vegan food, so vegan runners should plan to carry their own nutrition.
Source: Not recorded
Night Running
South Downs Way 50 Mile starts at 08:30 local time, with sunset around 18:48. Based on the median finisher time of 10:19:30, a runner at that pace would finish around 18:49 — after dark, spending around 5m (1% of their race) running in darkness and covering roughly 0.3 km of the course after sunset.
Shaded stretches are expected to be run in the dark
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