Wendover Woods 50 2025 Race Report

The lead up to this ninth edition of the fourth and final 50 mile race of our season, was extremely wet. A drier autumn finally gave way to Storm Claudia which brought with it heavy rain across all of Friday and left the ground 'sub-optimal' in the field..... but still pretty good within the woods themselves which drain so fast as an area of steep chalky ridgeline. This is November racing! 

Wendover Woods 50 is our toughest but possibly most rewarding 50 miler. With five loops, each with 2000ft of climbing and a 15 hour cut off, it rewards patience and good race management. 

The weather on the day dawned overcast and misty, with the sun never quite able to burn off the fog over the start/ finish area. By contrast, the woods themselves were largely clear of it and conditions at the Hale Lane check point were positively lovely! For the runners, the course was maybe playing slightly harder than usual due to the mist and damp, but that didn't seem to affect the sensational racing at the front of both the mens and womens races.

 
Runners tackling the steepest climb on the loop - 'Gnarking Around'

The womens field looked competitive coming in, with at least a handful capable of rising to the top. Zoe Smith and Veronika Gill went hardest from the start, with the former edging into the lead around 10km in and extending her margin over the ensuing two laps.

Zoe’s lead by mile 20 was four minutes, however towards the end of the third loop right around the 50km mark Veronika came past Zoe and led through trig point field with a gap of just 30 seconds. From there she forged ahead with real strength and extended her leading margin as she ran home the winner in 9:16:30, over Zoe’s superb second in 9:30:35.

Veronika Gill

Third and fourth played out in a similar way with Karen Hacker, a previous podium finisher here starting out in the third place berth before being passed by 2023 SDW50 champion Rebecca Di Luzio on loop 2. Their positions remained that way right to the line with Rebecca coming home in 9:43:57 for the final podium place and Karen a further 7 minutes back in fourth.

Rebecca Di Luzio

The mens race out played out very differently. Joe Turner executed an incredible event for the third time this year with us. In March he set the Hundred Hills 50km course record, a feat that he repeated at the Chiltern Wonderland 50 in September. Each time he has led from gun to tape and in now trademark fashion, he took the same approach here. His margin grows consistently through the race and he truly has come into his own at the 50km - 50 mile distance on trail in 2025. The only question mark that hovered as he bore down on the finish, was whether he had enough in the tank to come past Stuart Leaney's course record of 7:16:59. He had been behind Stuarts splits all day but Stuart had faded hard at the end and it seemed Joe's constency would make it possible. We waited with baited breath as we saw his headlamp streaking around the edge of the field at pace, but with just 200 metres to go, the record slipped past. Joe took an incredible third win in the Centurion calendar and ran second fastest all-time of 7:17:43.

Joe Turner

Second place was held by Matt Hammerton, previous Wendover Woods Night 50km champion, but towards the end of the third loop, his race unravelled and he was sat in the aid station as Dan Weller sprinted through to move past him. Matt called it a day there but he'll be back. Dan ran a superb race and held on to second in 7:41:01. Third place was picked up by Cornish athlete Johnny Hesnan in 8:03:34.

Dan Weller

In the Age Group Categories, there were three exceptional performances and new records.

First FV40 was second place Zoe Smith. Vanessa Dolling was first FV50 in 10:25, a new age category record by a huge 27 minutes.

Mark Shannon was first MV40 in 8:51. Then the two stand out mens performances of the day went to MV50 Jason Leaf who finished fourth overall in a time of 8:40 - setting a new record in the process. Andy Jones who was first MV60 in 11:04, also set a new category record.

46 Grand Slam 50 milers attempted this fourth and final race in the series. 38 made it home inside the 15 hour cut off. For some it was just too much, but all of them held their heads high at the end of a phenomenal year. The final 2025 50 Mile Grand Slam table is available here. Congratulations go to Chiltern Wonderland 50 ever present Vince Darley, who won the mens division and to Rike Jones who captured the womens crown.

Flic Archer finished second in the 2025 Womens 50 Mile Grand Slam

A huge shout out to two very special runners. Bozena Kaplinska finished the race and with it, the Double Slam, having completed all eight of our regular season 50 and 100 milers in 2025. Going into new realms this year, Jade Barrett also finished the Double Slam after some early doubts. She began the season by running Hundred Hills 50km and will end it by running the Winter Downs 200. If she finishes there she will become the first person ever to complete a full Centurion season of ten races and the maximum possible mileage - since the addition of these new events. 831 miles of racing with us in 2025. 

Jade Barrett

Finally, a massive thank you to all of our volunteers. A relatively small team pulled some 20+ hour days to make this event possible and whilst it is our end of season party, it is a heck of a lot of hard work too!