Chiltern Wonderland 50 2024 Race Report

273 runners joined us for the ninth edition of the Chiltern Wonderland 50 and our third 50 miler of the 2024 season. Huge thunderstoms hit the area the night before the race but thankfully cleared through just before 5am and the opening of race registration. Still, some showers followed behind and made it a soggy morning on and off, bringing with it some muddier sections underfoot but certainly keeping runners cooler in the 20+ degrees temperatures. A brighter afternoon arrived to welcome home our first finishers all the way through to the final cut off 13 hours into the race at 2130. 

The womens race was tight from the start, with Michelle Attridge, our Grand Slam 50 mile leader and winner of this years' SDW50 out in front. She held a margin of less than 10 minutes over a group of ladies behind including Jennifer Wood, Fiona Slevin-Brown and Gemma Game. As the day went on it became clear we were going to see one of the closest womens race finishes of all time, with Michelle just ahead, Jennifer and Fiona seeminly locked in step for second and third for almost the entire race and Gemma closing from behind. Leaving Grims Ditch with 9 miles to go Michelle had a three minute advantage. Gemma unfortunately went off course and missed the check point there, which ruled her out of the podium places despite battling all the way to the end. Michelle was eventually just overhauled in the final miles by Fiona who ran on to win in 8:35:46 and Jennifer Wood who took second in 8:39:18. Michelle picking up third in 8:41:41. What a race!

Fiona Slevin-Brown

In the mens event, there was light hearted chatter at the start about course records, with Jon Ellis' 2020 mark of 6:22 the time to beat. It seemed likely that SDW50 Champ Alistair Courtney and Benjamin Hall, who shared the NDW50 podium with Alistair earlier this year would be most likely to contend things and that proved to the be the case. The two absolutely blitzed away from the field, running together to CP1 before Alistair stole a quick gap as Benjamin visited the check point. Both ran the entire climb up to the windmill proving the kind of effort being put in, before pushing through the marathon CP at Ibstone in 3:13 and 3:18 respectively. Hitting the final third, the two were more than 10km up on the remainder of the field, but it was Alistair who despite a fall on some greasy chalk, managed to continue to forge ahead to eventually take his second win of the year in 6:32. He became the second fastest person to run this course. Benjamin came through for second in 6:56. Roger Maimont ran a super race for third place and first MV50 to boot in 7:48. 

Alistair Courtney and Benjamin Hall running hard early in the race

In the age cateogories, awards went to the following:

FV40 to Libby Clark who was also fourth. FV50 to the race winner Fiona Slevin-Brown. FV60 to Nicky Callus in 12:09. It is worth pointing out both that the first two finishers in the womens overall race were V50 and that we had four FV60 finishers which just goes to show the depth that we are now seeing in the age cat performances. 

MV40 went to Mark Potts in 7:56. MV50 to Roger Maidmont also third overall. MV60 to Phil Hoy in 9:47 and MV70 to Ken Fancett in 11:47.

We often have some very tight finishes up against the 13 hour cut off at this event, literally going down to the final few seconds. Three runners were still out on course with a minute to go this time - Stuart Holmes made it home with 47 seconds to spare. Zingy Theto reached the final 100 metres in time but was the wrong side of the hall! And by the time she had made it back around on the course she crossed the line in 13:00:06. James Hodge finished a minute later. The attitude expressed by these final two runners who completed the course but outside the alloted time by a hairs breath was by far the most inspiring part of the day. Huge disappointment but tempered with a stoic attitude and with thanks to the volunteers - both immediately agreed to return in 2025.

Zingy Theto

A huge thank you to our volunteer team of which 60 of them made this event possible. Some of them pulling shifts from 0500 pre-race through to final clear up at 2230. It's a long day but so worthwhile!

We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Goring for the Autumn 100 in just three weeks time.