Chiltern Wonderland 50^®

Entries

Entries for 2016 will open at 10am on Saturday 12th September 2015. There will be 240 places for the event on open registration. Places are open on a first come, first served basis. Entrants must meet the minimum qualification standard below in order to apply. There will be a wait list in operation, should the initial places be are taken.

Entry fee is £70 plus a card fee taken by the registration company. 

Qualification Standard

In order to enter you must have completed a minimum of a marathon distance race within the cut off time of that event between 1st January 2013 and race day. As organisers, we reserve the right to refuse anybody entry who does not meet this standard. Unqualified runners may enter but will be contacted approximately 8 weeks prior to race to verify qualification plans if they have not updated their online information by this time.

Click here to read more about what counts as a qualifier. 

Cut Offs

Runners must finish the course within a 13 hour time limit. There are additional cut offs on route which can be found in the aid station table. 

Start/ Finish Location

Registration, Race Start, Race Finish and Race HQ are at Goring Village Hall, High Street, Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG8 9AG.

Route

The race route consists of a single 50 mile loop through the Chiltern Hills. Starting and finishing in the riverside village of Goring On Thames, It begins by heading down the 'hilliest' section of the Thames Path National Trail to Whitchurch, before joining the Chiltern Way to Mapledurham. From there it is a short 4 mile section through to Sonning Common, before runners get in to some of the best climbs, descents, valleys and villages that the Chilterns have to offer. Travelling first through Bix, runners then pay a visit to Turville and climb steeply out of the village directly past Cobstone Windmill. It's on and down through rolling countryside from there to the Ibstone check point. Runners then continue on the Chiltern Way to the highest point on the course at Christmas Common (800ft), before a screaming fast descent underneath Watlington Hill, to join the Ridgeway as far as Swyncombe Farm aid station. Runners then take the Chiltern Way extension first east, then west to rejoin the Ridgeway at Nuffield. From there it's Grim's Ditch until the final aid station and the turn for home on one of the fastest sections of the course.

A map of the route and a downloadable GPX file can be found at the bottom of this page. The route has 5800 feet of climb, and 5800 feet of descent.

Awards

Medal & T-Shirt to Finishers only.

Additional prizes will be awarded to First place Male and Female. 

Aid Stations

A full list of the aid stations including the relative cut off times can be found here. Aid stations will carry as a minimum: water, coke, chocolate, sweets, sandwiches, nuts, lots of fruit, Gu gels, wraps, sandwiches and other sweet and savory snacks. There will be hot food available at the finish.

Drop Bags/ Finish Line Bags

Finish Line Bags may be deposited at registration, whereupon they will be stored in number order and accessible to runners at the end of the race. Bags should be clearly labelled with runners name and bib number. Drop Bags for other aid stations are not permitted. 

Course Markings

The course will be marked with reflective red, white and silver tape, Centurion marker arrows and Orange Chalk Ground Paint. 

Pacers

No pacers are permitted at any point on the route. 

Crew

Runners are allowed to have a crew, however crews may ONLY attend to their runner at the locations identified on the Crew Instructions Page available here. 

Medical

There will be a dedicated team of race medics available throughout the race including a static first aid team at the finish line and at least one roving team out on course at all times. If you suffer an injury or accident that warrants direct medical attention, the medics will be on hand to provide you with exactly that. Contact numbers and full details of what to do in an emergency will be given to you in the pre race information packs and again at race registration. Due to the nature of the course ie. some remote and far from roads, the medics may take some time to reach you, or potentially be out of contact tending to other runners. In those instances you should contact the emergency services on 999 AS WELL AS the race medics. Full instructions on what to do in an emergency can be found in the infopacks. 

Kit

80% of the course is on trail. Trail shoes are advised but you will be able to complete the course perfectly adequately in road shoes. There are sections of trail where the chalk has become exposed which can make it slippery and technical in the wet. 

There will be kit checks prior to the race as well as potientially during and at the finish. Runners must carry the following mandatory equipment at all times. A time penalty of one hour will be imposed for any item found to be missing at any point on course. Please refer to this page for explanations on the inclusion of the below items. 

There are many options regards kit for fulfilling these requirements and those of other events. We stock what we believe to be the best options at our online store available by clicking here under the Mandatory Gear Section. Please ask us if you have any questions.

• Fully Charged Mobile Phone including the numbers for the Race Medic and Race Director (on the number you have given at registration)
• Water Bottles/Bladder capable of carrying a minimum of 1 litre.
• Survival Blanket: 1.4m x 2m minimum
• Waterproof Jacket: Gore-tex or similar, minimum 10000mm+ & must have sealed seams. 
• Whistle
• Headtorch or Primary Light Source (Minimum 75 lumens)