The fifteenth edition of the NDW50 kicked off at 0745 from the North Downs Way National Trail Head on Saturday 16th May.
This is the fourth event in our race calendar each year and comes hot off of the back of the Thames Path 100, making it a tight turnaround for staff and volunteers - but as usual an amazing team and community effort pulled off another successful and exciting (the women's race in particular!) event.
All Photos - Jamie Rutherford
A sell out field of 298 runners had for much of the race, near perfect running weather. Some early morning sunshine and temperatures around 10 degrees with dry trails underfoot and a light tail wind. Does it get any better! Through the day a few light showers blew through and towards the end of the race an overcast sky did turn to light rain, with the last couple of hours reasonably wet which is unusual for this race. But it was warm enough to let the runners enjoy it. The finishing rate of 92%, much higher than the hotter edition we had in 2025.
The womens race was the one to watch. One of the closest we have ever seen right from the early miles, through to the climax 50 miles later at the finish, thanks to three incredible runs.
Hannah Rickman
Hannah Rickman (Centurion Ultra Team/ Inov8) led the early stages, pursued by Katie Brook and Abi Woolaston (Salomon). Incredibly, there was never a gap of more than seven minutes between first and second in the entire 8+ hours of the race. Plus the lead changed hands along the way. At Box Hill, the half way mark, Hannah's lead over Katie was less than a minute. Abi came through looking more relaxed nearly 11 minutes back. By Reigate Hill, Katie had run into the lead, with Hannah five minutes behind and Abi a full 16 minutes further back. It looked like a decisive move. But it seemd to have come at a cost as Hannah ran back into the lead, enjoying a 7 minute advantage through the final check point at Botley Hill. She said at the finish that she'd kept looking behind expecting Katie to be catching her. But in fact it was Abi who was charging hardest, at times in that final stretch all three tracker dots were almost on top of each other as we waited at the finish with baited breath to see who would emerge first.
Abi Woolaston
Hitting the road with less than a mile to go, Abi had made the pass and she crossed the line first in a time of 8:11:12, with Hannah inside the finish chute at the same time, crossing the line just 13 seconds later. Katie rounded out the podium with an impressive 8:15:42. What a race!
Womens Podium (L to R: Hannah, Abi, Katie)
The mens shaped up quite differently, with a pack of five guys coalescing at the front and for much of the first half of the race, separated by less than a minute. Barry Bryant, Richard Strong, Jonny Hind, Simon Jones and Matthew John all featured. The race pace was way off of course record level which suggested it would likely be a tighter finish with the 7 hour mark within reach for most of them.
As the race moved on to the 50km mark, Jonny and Richard pushed out into the lead together, but the elastic snapped heading into the final 20km with Richard forging out an extending gap all the way to the line, to take the win in 6:56.
Jonny running his first ultra picked up second in 7:06. Third place went to Matthew John in 7:12.
Mens Podium (L to R): Jonny, Richard, Matthew.
Age Category awards went out as always, some much more hotly contested than others, handed out in the prescence of Ken Fancett who was volunteering as usual at the finish of this one, the most decorated Centurion age group winner of all time:
First FV40 went to Helen Chapman in 9:09. First FV50 went to Natasha Cox in 8:59, a time that would have won her the FV40 category as well! There were no FV60 starters or finishers this time which is unusual and after the success of Jan Payne at TP100, something we hope to see turning in the future.
First MV40 went to Matthew John. First MV50 to Barry Bryant in 7:28. First MV60 to Aziouz Lamalli in a superb 9:23.
276 finishers over the line, with the final two making it home with just over three minutes to spare: Zak Overfield and Amanda Tondeur - a fantastic end after the heartbreak of 2025 where Jaz and Frank missed the cut off by half a minute. They tried again this year but both stopped at Box Hill - we all hope they will keep coming back to get it done!
Finally, 79 runners completed leg two of the Grand Slam adding a finish here to the SDW50. Find the standings after two races here.
A huge thanks to our volunteer team as always for another fantastic day out at our original race!
