Leg 10: Springhead Hill to Houghton Lane

When it comes to talking about the fastest parts of the South Downs Way Relay, leg 10 is never far from the conversation. I ran this one as my second leg of the day in 2024 and it starts adjacent to Kithurst Hill car park.

After I took the baton from the leg 9 runner, I took a short gradual uphill before a short 50 metre section through shaded woodland and then it’s on to wide open downland. I found the underfoot conditions here to be good with an easy to follow path. One word of caution to keep an eye out for larger stones that can present a trip hazard when travelling at speed.

The rolling path goes on for a little over 2km and just keep going straight – you won’t go wrong. Your momentum will eventually be slowed by a gate. This is the start of a short, steep downhill section that will favour skilled descenders. I took it quite easy on the day to make sure I didn’t smash my quads up too much.

Following this downhill, my tip is to stay to the right and stick to the path. There is a road that bears to your left, but do not follow this as it will take you well off course.

Run for another 200m or so before you reach another gate. Take the very short steep downhill and then turn right onto the road. You will come to another right turn very soon after starting the road descent, so make sure to continue straight on. The right turn will take you off course.

I really motored on this section as it’s roughly 800m of downhill road running. Before you reach the junction with the main road, take a sharp right onto a path that takes you to a road crossing. I wasn’t delayed by this crossing on the day, but make sure it is safe to cross before doing so.

Once you’ve crossed the road, turn right onto the path for 100m and then take a sharp left onto a road that eventually crosses the railway line. You will then reach another gate and be in sight of the finish, but there are still a few tricky bits to negotiate.

I ran this leg at around 1pm and the heat when I hit this section felt significantly higher than it actually was. As the final 1.5km is in this heat sink, don’t be surprised if it’s harder than you expect.

After following the path round the corner to the next gate, run with the river on your left towards the bridge. Cross the river over the bridge and turn right when you reach the end. You’ll run over a rutted path and then take a left through a gate. After going round the end of this field, you head through one more gate to hit the final 100m inclined sprint for the finish. On the day I handed over the baton to the leg 11 runner and it was time to take a breath.