Congratulations to Jon Ellis who won the recent South Downs Way 50 in a time of 6:27:46, from a record field of 393 runners.
That’s 50 miles, by the way, off-road (with around 6000ft of climbing in total), and on an unseasonably warm day. Jon won by 20 minutes. Amazing!
Many thanks to Stuart March Photography for kind permission to use this action shot of Jon, as well as the one below of him receiving his award from Centurion Race Director James Elson.
Jon says he “faded quite a bit towards the end” (wouldn’t we all?) but fortunately so did everyone else. You can read a nice race report by the organisers here.
Jon was due to run the London Marathon but is sadly laid low with tonsillitis. We hope you’re back in action soon, Jon.
New ESM member Mark Fuller also completed this race, finishing 263rd in a time of 10:51:11. It was Mark’s first ultra, but he has another couple booked for later in the year: Race to the Stones and Wendover Woods (50 miles with 9500ft of elevation). When asked if he was an ultra fan, he commented wrily: “if it’s OK I’ll let you know in late November if I’m a fan or not”!