The Annual North Downs Relay Race
for teams of 16 runners
This year's race was on Saturday 20 June 2009.

Teams expected from GO, South London Orienteers and Wayfarers (SLOW), Canterbury Harriers and Haywards Heath Harriers. More always welcomed - just email me (). Entry fee is £1/leg (£16 for a full team).

The winning team is awarded the David Earle Trophy for a year, won in 2009 by GO in 16 hours 17 minutes and 31 seconds, 36 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of SLOW in 16:53:57 - a time which included a new Leg record on leg 16. Third were Haywards Heath Harriers in their debut race time of 19:14:04, ahead of 4th placed Canterbury Harriers (+ friends) who managed to cover most of the 16 legs with only 11 runners in 20:31:28. Their multi-leg runners suffered time penalties of 15 minutes and 59 seconds in total, bringing their official time to 20:47:27. 2009 results in this Excel file. 2008 results here

The race starts at 5:30am and follows the North Downs Way ‘National Trail’ (official route, no deviations) from Dover to Farnham. Each leg has a mass start when the previous leg's first finisher arrives to set them off, but with fixed time starts for Leg 7 (at 10h40) and for Leg 15 (at 17h30) - to stop the event extending too long, and giving us the chance to get to the pub before closing time.

In 2010 we plan to try a new format starting simultaneously at both ends at 10am and finishing in late afternoon somewhere in the middle.

Leg no Length (km) Record time (mm:ss) Cut off time (mins) Start time Start at (grid ref) - click for map Finish at - click for map
1 11.2 49:23 (Saxons?) 95 Mass start at 05h30 Shakespeare Cliff, Dover (308400) Castle Hill
2 13.3 53:49 (Matt Lynas, SLOW) 100 Mass start at first finish leg 1 (c 06h20) Castle Hill (213382) Stowting Tiger
3 10.5 46:51 (Dick Clark, SLOW) 93 Mass start at first finish leg 2 (c 07h15) Stowting Tiger (120414) Wye Station
4 11.0 40:49 (Mark Chapman) 87 Mass start at first finish leg 3 (c 08h10) Wye Station (047469) Charing
5 12.3 50:56 (Andrew Redington, LOK) 97 Mass start at first finish leg 4 (c 08h55) Charing (957499) Hollingbourne
6 16.7 76:30 120 Mass start at first finish leg 5 (c 09h50) Hollingbourne (845554) Bluebell Hill
7 8.0 28:26 72 Mass start at 10h40 Bluebell Hill (745621) Medway Bridge west
8 13.2 54:43 (Tom Mendum, GO, 2004) 103 Mass start at first finish leg 7 (c 11h15) Medway Bridge west (717673) Vigo Inn
9 14.7 (15.8/GPS2006) 63:48 (Charlie Whetham, SLOW, 2004) 110 Mass start at first finish leg 8 (c 12h15) Vigo Inn (631610) Rose & Crown, Dunton Green
10 9.8 44:14 (Mike Farmery, SLOW) 90 Mass start at first finish leg 9 (c 13h15) Rose & Crown, Dunton Green (507579) Betsoms Hill Farm
11 11.0 49:47 (Alan Leakey, SLOW) 96 Mass start at first finish leg 10 (c 14h00) Betsoms Hill Farm (441559) Caterham bypass, A22
12 11.5 46:29 (Paul Brooks, SLOW, 2005) 92 Mass start at first finish leg 11 (c 14h50) Caterham bypass, A22 (349537)) Reigate Hill
13 11.8 46:41 (Chris Beecham) 93 Mass start at first finish leg 12 (c 15h40) Reigate Hill (262523) Stepping Stones, Dorking
14 15.0 (16.3/2006) 66:40 (Charlie Whetham, SLOW, 2005) 108 Mass start at first finish leg 13 (c 16h25) Stepping Stones, Dorking (172512) Newlands Corner, Guildford
15 12.4 47:54 (Iain Rochford, GO) 94 Mass start at 17h30 Newlands Corner, Guildford (044492) Puttenham
16 10.6 42:14 (Paul Couldridge, SLOW, 2009) 90 Mass start at first finish leg 15 (c 18h15) Puttenham (934478) Farnham by-pass, A31
Estimated Finish time c 19h00 Farnham by-pass, A31

RULES

  • 1. Each team must have a minimum 2 males and 2 females - penalty 20 minutes per missing male or female (ie single sex team suffers a 40 minute penalty).
  • 2. If a runner runs more than one leg they must be consecutive, and each leg except their first will be penalised by adding 10% to their leg time. This is because multi-leg running by excellent long-distance runners is discouraged, but it is recognised that getting and keeping a full 16-person team is not easy.
  • 3. The leg time starts are as defined above and a late starter will have no adjustment made (therefore legs 6+7 or 14+15 are not advised for a multi-leg runner!).
  • 4. If a runner takes longer than the leg cut-off time they will be awarded the cut-off time. This is to make getting lost a qualified rather than absolute disaster.
  • 5. If a team has no runner for a leg they will be awarded the worst runner's time for that leg plus 20 minutes (no worse than cut-off plus 20 minutes). Reasoning as above on qualified disaster.

    Page last updated on 24 June 2009