Runaway Racing The Ridgeway Challenge 86
The whole Ridgeway in one go, a hundred and forty kilometres from Ivinghoe Beacon to Avebury.
86 Mile
138 km
1,864 m ascent
14 m per km
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The course
EXPERT
TRP grade · E5·T2
What you’re in for
The whole Ridgeway National Trail in one go: Ivinghoe Beacon to the stones at Avebury, 139.9km with 1,864m of climb, through Wendover, Whiteleaf, Aston Rowant, Nuffield, South Stoke, West Ilsley, Uffington and Ogbourne St George. Ten in the morning on the late May bank holiday Saturday, 28 hours overall with cut-offs at each of the eight checkpoints, which come every 13 to 19km with hot food at some of them. The trail's own signposts do most of the navigation and the organiser adds markers where they are needed, but you carry the route on your watch, phone or a paper map, and a hooded waterproof or a spare warm layer, lights and a litre of water capacity.
Terrain and trail
Two different trails joined at the Thames. East of Goring the Ridgeway is chalk escarpment and beech wood — flinty track, rooty single-track, short steep climbs. West of it the old drove road opens out across the Berkshire and Marlborough downs: broad chalk and flint track, rutted and puddled, exposed to wind for 60km with almost no shelter, and mostly in the dark. Firm in a dry May, sticky white mud in a wet one. A trail shoe.
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How to enter
Sat, 29 May 2027 · Entries open
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Common questions
- The Ridgeway Challenge 86 is one distance: 86 Mile (138.4 km).