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Trail Running · South Downs

🇬🇧South Downs Way 100:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

160km along rolling chalk downland with 3553m of gain spread across 17 modest climbs and 16 descents. No single ascent decides it — the relentless, repeating terrain and 3647m of cumulative descent do.

CourseRecon scores your own training against the durability and descending demands that define South Downs Way 100 — the sample analysis below shows exactly how.

160 km
Distance
+3,430 m
Vertical Gain
−3,520 m
Total Descent
Jun 12, 2027
Next Edition · 325 days out
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The Course · GPS-Measured

What 160 km / 99.2 mi and 3,430 m / 11,260 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 160 km / 99.2 mi and 3,430 m / 11,260 ft of vertical gain. This is the terrain you're signing up for: read it before it reads you.

Course Profile

Terrain summary
Claimed vs GPS-Measured
Claimed · Organizer
160km
Distance
+3,550m
Gain
+0.0 km−120 m
GPS-Measured
160km
Distance
+3,430m
Gain
Climb & Gradient
+3,430 mTotal Gain
−3,520 mTotal Loss
Gradient Distribution
55%
Flat
≤3% grade
20%
Run-Climb
3–15% up
2%
Steep Climb
>15% up
23%
Descent
downhill
Steepest Sustained Sections
1
Climb
KM 89.0–91.6 · +158 m
+6.3%
2
Climb
KM 125.0–127.0 · +128 m
+6.2%
3
Descent
KM 36.2–38.2 · −123 m
-6.1%
4
Descent
KM 18.5–20.9 · −140 m
-5.9%
Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

Reference finish times from past results — use them to set a realistic goal pace.

13h 43m
Winning time
15h 32m
Top 5
16h 20m
Top 10
23h 46m
Median finisher
30h 00m
Back of pack
What This Race Demands

Four things this course asks of your body

Every course weights the four pillars of mountain-ultra fitness differently. Durability carries 58% of the scoring weight on this course — the terrain makes that the deciding factor.

Weighting shows where readiness is won or lost at this distance — not whether you need each pillar. An aerobic base is a given for a race this long, so it carries little deciding weight even though it's essential — the gaps open on the climbs, descents and the back half.

AerobicSustained engine
Foundational
Sustained low-intensity output across 160km with 26% flat, runnable terrain.
ClimbingVertical power
16%
Seventeen short climbs, longest 4.3km, biggest 202m — frequent efforts, none extreme.
DescendingEccentric / braking
26%
Sixteen descents totalling 3647m, longest 7.9km, biggest 234m — near-constant downhill loading.
DurabilityLate-race resilience
58%
160km of undulating chalk with no rest; repeated climb-descent cycles compound fatigue.
The Profile in One Line

A 160km ultra of repeated short climbs and descents, where durability over distance outweighs any single hard section.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 16%Descending 26%Durability 58%

Here's how CourseRecon reads a course and an athlete

Sample Readiness Analysis

What a readiness result looks like for this course

This is a worked example for a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete — not your score. Connect your own training and the same analysis runs on you.

Sample
80
OUT OF 100
READY
For a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete

This is a sample — connect your Strava to see your own result.

Pillar Breakdown
Aerobic
60
With 26% of the course flat and no climb exceeding 202m, the demand is steady aerobic pacing held for 160km rather than surges.
Climbing
100
Seventeen climbs, the longest 4.3km and biggest 202m, ask for repeatable uphill efficiency — none is decisive alone, but they accumulate.
Descending
92
With 34% of terrain downhill and 3647m of total loss, including a 7.9km descent and one dropping 234m, quads face sustained eccentric loading throughout.
Durability
69
The dominant demand: 160km of ceaseless undulation across 17 climbs and 16 descents, where holding form and pace late is what separates finishers.
km 89–92
Deep-Race Climb
A 158m climb over 2.5km at 6.3% arrives near two-thirds distance, testing whether legs can still push uphill after prolonged accumulated fatigue.
km 125–127
Late Grind
With over 125km in the legs, a 128m climb at 6.2% forces continued uphill work when durability is most compromised.
Full 160km
Relentless Undulation
No major climb dominates, but 3553m of gain and 3647m of loss across 33 combined climbs and descents make cumulative fatigue the decisive factor.
That was a sample

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