Gran Canaria World Trail Majors has come to the British Isles to stay. The race on the island is the South Downs Way 100 and runs across the south of England following a historic trail for 100 miles (161km) with 12,700 ft (3800m) of elevation and a 30-hour time limit.
Trail running in the United Kingdom has certain characteristics due to its geography and the way it has developed. The races, if they are not of the historic fell running (Fell is a term mainly used in the Lake District to describe mountains or high moorland), usually have less elevation gain being more runnable and the South Downs Way 100 is a perfect example of this type of trail running, and together with its high standard of competition, brings together the most select of domestic runners. It has not been an exception this year with victories going to the locals Dan Lawson and Cat Simpson.
Hat-trick for Dan Lawson
At 06:00 on Saturday 8th June the race set off on time from Matterley Bowl, just outside Winchester in the south of England, winding its way over the hills to Eastbourne in the south east of the country, with the English Channel in sight from many high points along the route.
As it usually happens in races of this distance, the best started grouped together, keeping an eye on each other, being aware of how long the final kilometers (or miles) can be when you are too optimistic at the start. Following the live tracker, you could see locals Geoff Cheshire, Rob Payne, Hugh Tibbs, Peter Windross,and the Irish Michael O’Neill, and the German Jakob Von Raumer, among others. The pace was fast in those first hours, and runners would be in the podium positions unless something unexpected happened; they were setting a good pace that helped them pull away from the other initial contenders.
Temperatures were pleasant for running in the Northern Hemisphere with a bit of sun breaking through the clouds and a morning temperature of 10ºC to an afternoon high of 18ºC, ideal conditions for long runs. Relatively early on it was clear that Mark Perkins’ spectacular record of 14 hours and 3 minutes would remain unchallenged for another year.
Later in the race Geoff Chesire got bad cramps apparently abductors and hamstrings and dropped out. It became clearer and both Peter Windross and Dan Lawson were looking like potential contenders to win South Downs Way 100 2024, which became clearer they started to open a gap on Matthew Hammerton and the former UTMB winner Jez Bragg.
Eventually, the finishing positions were established from the aid station in Saddlescombe Farm (mile 66,66, kilometre 107,2) when Dan Lawson opened a little gap with Tibbs (+1’) and Windross (+6’), foll that would progressively increase and Dan Lawson crossed the finish line in 14:27:30 with the second best time ever in the race!
Second in Eastbourne was Hugh Tibbs in 14:46:53 and third (by less than 2 minutes!) was Peter Windross in 14:48:26. Matthew Hammerton was 4th in 15:04:40 and 5th the British legend Jez Bragg 15:35:24. The first not British was the Italian Davide Ambrosini in 6th and the first American Paul Grieve, 7th in 15:51:45.
Exciting women’s race, a victory for Cat Simpson
Before the start, three runners were noted as favourites, the American Karen Benway and the British Cat Simpson. They were joined at the start by the also locals Justine Putnam and Sophie Bennett.
The race was close between the Swiss Andrea Prais, Hannah Green and also the Danish Maria Ledesma was there in top 10 positions.
Cat Simpson, Karen Benway and Hannah Green who set the fastest times through the checkpoints and apparently showed no weakness running together for many miles. Just a minute behind after 100 km was Becky Pearson, so the fight was going to be interesting! Simpson was pulling away little by little, had a good time gap back to second and did not look back.
Late in the night Cat Simpson entered the Eastbourne Sports Park and had one lap of the athletics track left to win the thirteenth South Downs Way 100 and earn the 1500 points for the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors.. Her time, 19:26:52 52 minutes behind her came rhe American Karen Benway and Hannah Green to close out the podium in 20:25:19.
We experienced the best of British trail running, with some of the country’s best runners following the historic South Downs Way. The weather was kind, the scenery was amazing and the race took place in good conditions underfoot (we were expecting some more mud!) and many who struggled were able to make it to the finish line under the 30-hour cut off and enjoy a celebratory lap of the track with crew, friends, and family.
Full Results and Streaming
South Downs Way 100: Full Results
You can relive the streaming on YouTube’s World Trail Majors channel here: part 1, part 2 and part 3.