This is the well-deserved feeling of satisfaction you get when you share a special achievement with someone. The loneliness of the long-distance runner was not experienced at all by the 500 competitors in Ultra London on Saturday (8 October) as the dual course of either Trail 25K or the full-blown Ultra London 55K was so well marshalled, with well-stocked feed stations.

The distance to run depends on the start point in this runABC South featured race promoted by the Great Run company. Ultra London 55 competitors set off from Woowich while Trail 25 entrants start at Upper Norwood – with both routes following the surprisingly green Capital Ring pathway around Greater London. 

Great Run launched Ultra London in 2019 and the event has since been refined and improved. Both courses are only mildly challenging in terms of elevation – 385m of climbing in the Trail 25 and 740m in the Ultra London 55 – but there is no getting away from the distance involved (15.5 miles or 34 miles in the old money). 

There were 184 finishers in Trail 25 with three men under two hours: Steven Tallis (1:54:12), Harry Vincent (1:58:55) and Sean Wright (1:59:37). Not far behind and fifth overall was the women's winner Liz Pepper (2:06:28) followed by Lara Von Der Brelie (2:11:53) and Aana Ayeni (2:16:09). 

Ultra London 55 saw 285 finishers in 10:52:30. There was a shared victory for Maximillian Dew (4:16:08) and Adam May (4:16:08) who finished together nearly 18 minutes ahead of Callum Cuddeford (4:33:56).

The women's champion in Ultra London 55 was Rebecca Gow (4:56:59) – one of 16 elite endurance athletes inside five hours. The female rostrum was completed by Margot Orfanaki (5:10:38) and Kate Brydon (5:13:43).  

Of the many positive comments left on Facebook, mainly praising the on-course support, we felt Sebestien Fleurus (12th in the 55K in 4:56:14) was succinct and representative of so many others: "Nice event, interesting route, cool medal, great shirt, tons of route marks, fair price and amazing volunteers!"                                                

Visit runABC South race listing here for full results and previous event reports

Image courtesy UltraLDN on Facebook