Having completed Action Challenge’s Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge back in May, Newport & District Running Club member Ellen Deighton went back for more last weekend with the newest race on the Action Challenge calendar, the Kent Downs 50. Running for the first time this year, the 50km looped route took runners anticlockwise around the Kent Downs. 

Ellen Deighton at the end of the Kent Downs 50!

Starting at the Kent Showground near Maidstone, runners headed out on the North Downs Way to Blue Bell Hill, around Aylesford, and then followed the River Medway to the halfway point at Mote Park. The route then went along the Len Valley Walk and through the grounds of Leeds Castle, before rejoining the North Downs Way back to the finish line. 

With rain in the week leading up to race day, there was plenty of mud en route to add to the challenge of both the up and downhill sections. Luckily, Ellen made it back to the finish before the heavens opened on the day, with just a few light showers to contend with out on the course, finishing in a time of 8 hours, 24 minutes, 23 seconds, and managing to place in the top 50 female finishers.