Race to the King Castle 53Km 33 miles Sat 20 June 2026
After the utter disappointment of running the debacle that is the Centurion South Downs Way 50-mile ultra 
on 11 April 2026, I needed to quickly get that monkey off my back and try and put my enforced DNF - just 4 miles from the finish, caused by the implementation of James Elson’s diabolical and zealously enforced mid race cut-off times, out of my mind. Click for Review!
Having already run the Race to the King Coastal 50km in 2024 (and got soaking wet, in June!) I decided to do the Castle version. The Race to the Castle is quite a bit more challenging with 1,030m (3,380ft) of elevation hills and is slightly longer at 53km (33miles). I had no reservations of this as it is considerably less than the 5,700ft of elevation of the Centurion SDW 50-mile.
Just over half of the route includes the Monarch's Way (30Km - 18.6m). As part of my training and preparation, I ran the Monarch's Way, parking in Singleton. A week later I ran the remaining 15 miles of the Castle route parking in the Bury Hill car park off the A29, running to Arundel via Amberley. Spoiler alert, you don’t actually run to the Castle itself, but it can be seen from the flat section around the river Arun loop and from the Black Rabbit pub. Overall, I found the running surface generally far better and not as rutted (aka technical) as the SDW50 with hills longer but with less gradient apart from the climb out of Singleton and the long hill after Swanbourne Lake.
As 20 June was forecast to be a hot day, I bought some instant cold packs via Amazon.
There are five race options:
100km non-stop – 80km (Coastal + Monarch's Way) – Castle 53km- Coastal 50Km and Monarch's Way 30km all leaving at different wave times.
For the Coastal in 2024, I got a lift to the 6:30am start at West Dean gardens as there are no early buses and the parking cost was a bit steep at £15. However, having spent an hour waiting for the bus that never came after running 50km in 2024, this year I booked the parking! A bonus is you don’t have to bother with a bag drop and can sit in your car if you arrive far too early, as I always do! Car parking is in a field and faces south so it is a good idea to fit a sunscreen to your windscreen.
An early start as I wanted to be at the car park soon after it opened at 6am and by the time I arrived at 6:20am, there were already queues in both directions although it was very well marshalled and only took around 10 minutes to get in and parked. On entering, we were confronted by a track of flattened 2-3ft long grass. The actual car park field was also uncut very long grass. I have no idea why West Dean Gardens had not cut the grass beforehand, or why Threshold Series hadn’t asked them to.
When I subsequently complained West Dean’s response was a tert:
“We are sorry to hear about your concerns regarding the parking arrangements and route conditions during the Race to the King event. We would like to clarify that the parking facilities and event operations for Race to the King were organised and managed by the event organisers. The parking area was hired for the purposes of the event, and responsibility for the event's arrangements rests with the organisers rather than West Dean. We have noted your comments and would encourage you to raise your concerns directly with Threshold Sports, who are best placed to investigate and respond to matters relating to the event, parking arrangements and route management."
Threshold Series replied:
"We also appreciate you highlighting your concerns regarding the parking arrangements and the condition of sections of the Castle route. Thank you for providing such detailed feedback and for taking the time to share the relevant information regarding public rights of way.
We understand how challenging the long grass and overgrown sections of the route must have been, particularly on what are typically more runnable stretches. Feedback such as yours is invaluable in helping us review and improve the participant experience.
Please be assured that we will be reviewing these points as part of our planning and discussions for the 2027 event. We work closely with a number of landowners, local stakeholders and authorities across the route, and your observations will be taken into consideration as part of those conversations. Thank you again for your feedback and for supporting Race to the King. We appreciate you bringing these matters to our attention and hope to welcome you back to the event in the future."
I cannot believe any race organiser would feel obliged to hire a contractor to cut a landowner’s grass! Bearing in mind the heat waves of 2026, the grass was actually straw and a distinct fire hazard, especially as it could touch very hot car exhausts. This didn't seem to worry West Dean or Threshold Series.
So parked up and set off to get my race pack. Very simple, hardly any queuing I was handed a nice sealed envelope with my name on by a very friendly, smiling volunteer. Inside I found the bib number, some safety pins and general advice. Next point of call was the complimentary sun protection by P20. With free sachets collected it was back to the car. On the way back I couldn't resist buying a rather nice Race to the King T-shirt (well worth the £40).
Very good advice for most trail running, but this event in particular, after applying sunscreen, spray yourself with liberal amounts of insect repellent. I also chose to wear calf sleeves to protect my lower legs from not only bites but also from nettles and brambles. Time to pack the race vest, attach the bib and off to the start. Instantly noticeable was the friendly atmosphere with runners, supporters and the Threshold Staff all contributing to the great atmosphere. Special care was taken to warn of the high temperatures and advice on the extra water stations that had been organised. Even at the 8am start it was humid and most were starting to sweat after the gentle warm up in the 95% humidity!
Of we go, down the road and along to Singleton, just before the school turning left onto a path and off road up a hill on grass. At this point after just 20 minutes it was very hard to cool down. Zero wind, thankfully no sign of any sun but the humidity was hell.
Up onto the South Downs Way the moisture in the air was not cooling fog but warm mist, making us even more damp, certainly not cooling. I decided to try one of my cool packs. Yes they get cold, but do not stay cold for long and are too small to be of any benefit. Far more effective I found was damping down a small cooling towel. As I found on my recce runs, the tracks are very runnable only small sections of rutted chalk and flint. Over the first few miles I was doing well keeping pace with most of the 218 runners especially on the tracks through the early wooded area.
Aid stations were at 12km, 23km and 42km and at the finish a full choice of hot meals provided for those that wanted it. There were an additional two water stations which were needed and very welcome, at a pub car park and another just before you cross the A29 on the way back.
Grass around river Arun was very overgrown, very long grass. What is it with land owners not making Public Footpaths and Rights of Way fully accessible on their land? It is a legal requirement! The only flat section to run on and you couldn't see where your feet were going to land. Add in the rickety stiles to climb over on tired legs and it was slow. Anyway, I tried not to walk all of this flat section and managed a good run past the Black Rabbit pub on tarmac before the steep long hill after Swanbourne Lake. Once it levelled out most of the runners around, me included, were shattered.
It was rather disconcerting to be passed by a fresh looking young lady, who I discovered from a marshal, had already done the 50km Coastal and was on the 80km route and I could see her easily finishing in less time than me, doing "just" 53km. Towards the end we were back on the overgrown narrow footpaths, with brambles and nettles across which took some avoiding. The road surface around Goodwood was welcome and I managed to run most of that before crossing the road and circling the Trundle via a short uphill section before descending down a steep grass hill to the finish. Annoyingly, even in this section the grass was 2ft high and the surface hidden. Given also the steepness it did need traversing with care and was not suitable for running without a real risk of injury so near to the finish.
I crossed the finish line in 8hours 34 minutes. Well away from my target of sub 7 hours but given the weather, the elevations and the dangerous overgrown grass, it was more important to finish uninjured. At the finish I was presented with a nice medal and progressed to try and find the ice cream van. Unfortunately, either there wasn't one or he had already left!
