Wendover Woods 50 2025 Preview

The ninth edition of the Wendover Woods 50 is upon us. The finale to our 50 mile season, five laps of our much beloved and frequented loop around the forest with 10,000ft of climb and equivalent descent, our usual sell out field of 250 starters will hope to all make it round inside the 15 hour cut off in the small hours of Sunday morning. Amongst them are 45 Grand Slammers hoping to make it four out of four for the season. As well as some fast men and women looking for overall competition and glory.

The current course records are Fi Pascall (8:33) and Stuart Leaney (7:16) and for sure there are contenders in both events who will be looking for to have a shot!

Follow the race live from 0930 on Saturday 15th November via the website here.

WOMEN

Rebecca Di Luzio: Our 2023 South Downs Way 50 champion in 7:15, Rebecca was sixth at UTS 50km this year, she won the 100km there in 2022.

Rebecca Di Luzio

Karen Hacker: Second here in 2018 she is a two time champion with us, having picked up wins at the North Downs Way 100 and Chiltern Wonderland 50 in recent years. She was fourth at the 2025 edition of the Chiltern Wonderland 50 just two months back.

Sarah Cameron: Centurion Running coach Sarah was our 2018 South Downs Way 100 champion and went on to earn a place on the GB 24hr team. Surgery in recent years following a bike accident has seen her returning to form more recently again with a win at this years Bruniquel 12hr near to her home just outside of Toulouse.

Sarah Cameron part of the Centurion Coaching Set Up

Veronika Gill: Veronika is having a superb year so far having claimed third at the North Downs Way 50 and second at Chiltern Wonderland 50 in September.

Zoe Smith: Zoe recently won the North Chilterns 50km and earlier this year finished fourth at the North Downs Way 50.

Flic Archer: The last stop on Flic's 2025 Grand Slam tour where she has claimed sixth, ninth and sixth in the three other 50s to date. 

MEN

Joe Turner: Team GB 100km runner, Joe is fresh off of the back of a new course record at the Chiltern Wonderland 50 and looks to continue an incredible 2025 with another strong run here. So far he is also won Hundred Hills 50km, Chiltern Ridge 50km and a couple of other races to boot. He is of course the existing course record holder for Wendover Woods Night 50km (4:24) which has been on hiatus the last couple of years, but obviously he knows the terrain well. 

Joe Turner led from gun to tape at this years CW50

Dan Weller: A previous podium finisher at this event back in 2019, Dan has gone on to become a consistent top performer on the UK scene. In 2025 he has finished third at Lakeland 50 and sixth at the Arc 50. Other top results in recent years include a win at the Spine Challenger South in 2024 and third at the Arc of Attrition in 2023 which came just prior to winning the inaugural edition of the Hundred Hills 50km.

Dan Weller

Matt Hammerton: Matt won the first edition of the Wendover Woods Night 50km, back in 2022, before Joe Turner took three minutes off in 2023 to reset the course record. Matt was third here last year in 7:49 and is very at home on the hilly stuff but can also execute on flatter races too having finished second at the SDW50 this year and a sterling fourth at SDW100 in 2024. 

Jacob James: Jacob has just picked up a marathon win in Wendover Woods so his form is good! He has also won the Serpent Trail 50km in 2025 as well as the St. Albans Stampede and picked up second behind Joe Turner at this years Chiltern Ridge 50km. He also knows the loop, having run this race in 2019 when he finished eleventh.

David Gaskell: 2023 Race to the Stones champion, in 2021 he also won Race to the King.

Johnny Hesnan: Cornish runner who won the RAT 50km last year. In 2024 he was also third at the Arc 50 and eighth at the NDW50.

Mark Shannon: Three time finisher here with times all in the 8:50 - 9:10 range.