Training for the Centurion South Downs Way 50-mile Ultra
Preparation for the event
I signed up for the Centurion South Downs Way 50-mile ultra on 3rd July 2025, just a few days after I took a tumble and sprained injured my left ankle during the Maverick South Downs marathon on 28 June 2025. The Maverick was supposed to be a trial run ahead of booking the Centurion to assess how I handle the elevations and rough ground. Well now I knew! Run slower downhill, look where you put your feet and don’t fall over.
So with nearly a year to plan, 2025 was the year I took the run 2025 miles in 2025 "Race the Distance" challenge. That involved running around 500 miles every 3 months, so I should be in good shape for the 'big one' next year. During 2025, I ran four marathons; Goodwood, ABP Southampton, Maverick and the New Forest marathon. Despite the ankle injury and a 4-week no run lay off, I completed my 2,025 miles on 10 December with a total at year end of 2,102 miles.
What have I gone and done?
I began to question whether running 50 miles is beyond my capabilities. It is in effect, two marathons ran back to back, with eight diabolical hills, with a total elevation climb of over a mile! (5,700ft/1,700m) to walk up. Put into perspective, Snowdon is 3,560ft, Ben Nevis is 4,313ft and Scafell Pike is 3,210ft. Worse there is an overall time limit cut-off of 13 hours, with strict cut-off times at each of the six aid stations too. This means you need to carefully pace yourself, but still leave enough time for the latter stages.
In October 2025 I decided to run the SDW50 in stages to experience what was involved and get used to carrying around the compulsory kit and fuelling supplies in my new AONIJIE race vest. Click this link to see public drinking water taps available at all aid stations except Alfriston. Having downloaded the GPX course to my new watch which I found is essential, as there was no way I would have been able to do it without getting lost, which I still managed to do 3 times!
Stage 1 of the SDW50 Hill Barn Worthing to Botolphs - 11 miles.
Stage 2 & 3 Botolphs to Saddlescombe Farm to Housedean Farm - 17 miles.
Stage 4 & 5 Housedean Farm to Southease to Alfriston - 15miles.
I decided that the last 8 miles would be OK if I could get as far as Alfriston on race day. It was easy to book a train back to my car which I left near the start in Worthing and at Lewes for the furthest stage. My pensioner bus pass came in very handy too!
Now January, first up was to read some books on ultra running. My only previous experience being the Race to the King 50km in 2024 which I finished with a struggle in a stormy weather during the first 5 hours despite it being June! The best book I read was Hal Koerner’s "Field Guide to UltraRunning" if you plan on doing an Ultra, this is the book you need. I also needed a new Garmin as the battery in my Forerunner 45 would not last 13 hours. I bought a Garmin Forerunner 955 (£300) which has GPS map display tracking.
My training plan for this Ultra was to do longer runs with fewer run days. My aim was to cover my usual pre April marathon 500 miles. This worked out quite well as the weather in January and February was horrible wet/windy/cold sometimes all three! I ran my now annual Goodwood Marathon (5hrs 5mins) and did the hilly course of the Chichester half-marathon. My new watch again coming in handy for directions.
I then wanted to run the first half of the SDW50 - Hill Barn, Worthing to Housedean Farm (27miles ) in one go to see if I could get inside the 7-hour cut off time. However, I got lost in the first 3 miles (despite my watch directions and GPS map) in the early morning mist as ended up running only 23 miles. What I did learn was that just before the decent down a field to Housedean Farm, there is a very steep killer hill on a narrow mud path through trees, which after more than 26 miles is a real struggle.
The second half of the SDW50 from Housedean Farm to Eastbourne (23miles) I found was somewhat easier with long areas of nice grass to run on and the famous "yellow brick road", A very welcome 0.6m section of concrete road all downhill to Southease. As always, after each aid station, there is a hill to walk up. Critically, just after the Alfriston and Jevington aid stations, you will encounter the two steepest and hardest hills of the course.
At Alfriston, the route leaves the South Downs Way and you really need to pay attention to your watch navigation or print off the directions for Centurion website as there a few turns to be aware of. You would be well advised to watch the video on the Centurion website which takes you from the trig point to the finish in Eastbourne Athletics track. On my recce run, I relied on the printed instructions and didn’t look at my watch until I was way off course. That meant I had to go down a very steep 45 deg hill, step by step through trees until I joined the correct path known online as the "Gully of Doom" Having now ran down the last 50% of it a more accurate description would be "Gully of Death". It is a steep sided narrow chalk path with large flint boulders and tree branches and cut pieces of tree trunk strewn in it! I struggled after just 20 miles in afternoon sun, I am dreading negotiating this gully in darkness, on a perhaps windy, overcast day, after running 47 miles for over 12 hours! At the very bottom of this it is so steep that small steps have been cut into the chalk and concreted. Now completely knackered, you will have a downhill or flat run of about a mile to the athletics track on normal tarmac footpaths. Bliss.
Overall the route is well-signposted, with South Downs Way acorn signage after the first 6 miles, which is when you experience some of the most amazing views which continue right through the route. Along the way, you will encounter cattle, sheep, pigs and horses. I even saw a few goats. Nearly everyone you meet will be nice and sociable if you take to time to smile and comment on how lovely it is. Be aware of cyclists though. I use the term "cyclists" loosely as most are now electrically powered and never slow down! I had one idiot zoom past me around 40mph on the downhill section at the pig farm before Botolphs, and he actually took off the ground just after he whizzed past me at 40mph!
Some dogs may be a problem as they are seldom not on a lead on the South Downs Way (fair enough, but required in some sections) and I was targeted by an aggressive dog for 4 minutes until its keeper arrived, I informed her she that the dog should be "under close control in public places" and she was breaking the law. Her reply was "oh you’re one of those" so she must get people telling her regularly.
I am writing this the day before the big day. I have booked a nice hotel in Eastbourne "The View" for the night. I didn’t want to get the last bus back to Worthing (it leaves at 21:45) which I would probably miss anyway. The last train is around 11pm and I didn’t fancy then driving 35 miles home from Worthing in the dark after running hopefully 50 miles!
