The Thames Ring 250 is an old school, no fuss, hard to complete 250+ mile Ultramarathon held annually in the 3rd week of April starting on a Wednesday morning and running through to Sunday afternoon.
Oh and it has arguably the best medal you will ever receive, though you will have to earn it. 857g of solid metal.
You have 100 hours (4 days, 4 hours) to complete the full distance with cut-offs tightly enforced at each Checkpoint location. These are approximately 25 miles apart and the cut-off times are based on historical data and allow for slow down and sleep periods as the race progresses, for example you need to be doing at least 3.6mph to make the first 27 mile CP in time and less than 2 mph on the last 22 mile leg to the finish.
The race is non-stop and the clock always continues regardless of how much you rest and the final cut-off time of 2pm Sunday is fixed regardless of diversions, sleep, getting lost or stopping to buy food or drink. It’s an ever present target which seems a long way of and relatively easy based on an average pace of 2.5mph over the whole event.
But and there is always a but, it’s actually one of the toughest races out there in the UK with a finish rate of below 40% in most years and the best finish rate ever was only 55%. It may be flat and easy terrain for the most part, being mostly good towpath although the Oxford Canal is know for being anything but smooth and dry!
The route is a simple one, run from the start in Streatley-on-Thames east towards London and turn left to run up the Grand Union Canal until it meets the Oxford Canal and down to the Thames again at Oxford then back to the start/finish location.
There are few times you need to leave the towpath to go through towns or cross bridges and rivers but essentially you follow the waterway for the vast majority of the route, you are provided with detailed maps and a detailed .gpx file to help keep you on track. Not so easy in the dark and when you are very tired.
At every CP location there will be shelter available, either a gazebo or indoor space where you will be fed and watered and be able to sort kit out for the next leg, your resupply(drop) bag is transported to each CP ahead of you and you are allowed one holdall with up to 20kg total weight.
Every CP has a variety of hot and cold drinks and basic hot and cold foods, luxurious meals like quiche and beans or tinned ravioli and cheese! The indoor locations will have pasta, pizza and more substantial options. We also cater to all dietary requirement supplying Veggie, Vegan and GF options. You won’t starve and you are also allowed to purchase food and drink from shops along the way.
We had 27 starters this year, a little down on previous years but we rarely get above 50 runners on such a tough event, we don’t have massive hills or mountains and forests or coastline, however industrial Britain with it’s canals and rivers and varied boat art and historical villages and pubs along the route have their own beauty.
In no particular order we had the following runners toe the start line.
Jon Rowles
John Stocker
Raymond Evans
Steve Whitmore
Daniel Smithwhite
Stuart Ferguson
Matt Barber
Tobbias Ngala
Nathan Taylor
Mark Taylor-Weir
Matthew Ma
Rob Mach
Keith Burge
Chris Sayles
Paul Mason
Chris Lamb
Alan Cormack
Dave Fawkner
Agnieszka Kaminska
Martin Raetz
Jan Davies
Andy Ives
Jonathan Burnhams
Fiona McNelis
Colin Crowhurst
Sandra Tullett
Manuel Nicolaus
Some have finished before, some as many as 2 or 3 previous finishes and many making their 1st attempt.
Andy Ives for example is 66 this year and has started every race since 2009 with 7 finishes from the 10 races.
Nathan Taylor, John Stocker, Steve Whitmore are already on multiple finishes and several others are looking for a second finish. John Stocker holds the current record of 58 hours 52 minutes and a few seconds. That’s the equivalent of 2 x sub 24 hundreds and a sub 10hour 50 miler all with no sleep. That’s not bad going.
The Ladies record is 68:21 by Karen Hathaway in 2015 and equally as impressive on no sleep.
4 Women toed the start line
Start and registration as always is in the Morrell Rooms in Streatley, registration from 8-9:30 then race brief and prompt start at 10am.
At exactly 10am in cool dry weather the race started, it takes a while in an event like this for people to find their pace and settle into it. It takes a while to realise this is your fate for the next 3 plus days!
The First CP is 27 miles into the event but there are a couple of big diversions on this section meaning most people arrive at the CP with something like 29/30 miles under their belt. This may mean 30-40 minutes slower than they were expecting. Not much time banked for those at the tail end of the field.
We had one surprise drop out at this stage, John Stocker who was arguably the favourite. Course record holder and 3 times winner was not having the day he wanted and decided to retire before a niggle go worse. This meant Nathan and Colin were the new favourites. They where having a great run so far but still over 220 miles to go!
Mark Taylor-Weir retired at CP1 deciding it was not his year, Mark has a previous finish at this race.
Between CP1 and CP2 Jon Rowles called it a day, another previous finisher and a previous Monarchs Way finisher.
Just before CP2 Ray Evans decided it was not his day either, considering he runs with one prosthetic leg and only had a new one delivered 2 days before the race! He had not had time to get used to the new leg and was getting too much grief from it.
CP2 was at Chertsey in a pub car park and it was starting to get chilly on an otherwise clear and dry evening.
On the runners went into the cool night, Towards London and CP3 in a Tesco car park at West Drayton.
I was then told that Fiona McNellis one of our female runners had decided to stop at CP2 as well. Down to 22 runners now.
Overnight we lost a few more runners between CP2 and 3.
Tobias Ngala and Dave Fawkner decided to stop overnight. Down to 20 now.
By the time morning had come round we had lost another 4. It was proving a tough one this year and the race was being especially cruel early on. Despite chilly but dry and clear weather.
Matthew Ma a previous GUCR winner went at CP4 (107-ish miles), Matt Barber and two more women went. Jan Davies and Agnieska Kamiska. Down to 16 runners still on the course now going into the second day and night.
Rob Mach retired just before CP4 overnight and Dan Smithwhite retired just before CP5 in Milton Keynes!
14 left going, almost 50% gone so far. Why? It’s not been raining and it’s not windy or wet? Just cold with temps around 6c. At this rate we will have nobody left and it’s only Thursday!
Milton Keynes is not the most glamorous CP ever under Tinker Bridge. We do make up for it with fresh bacon for all!
The rain threatened a little overnight and the race now spread out of nearly 40 miles took a couple of more scalps, Chris Lamb retired at CP4 and Martin Raetz retired just before CP5. Now we were down to 12. He has come over from Hamburg having only ever run a 100k race before and has done twice that distance here and so far has raised over 9,000 Euros for charity. A great effort.
There are now 3 races going on within the event
The race to win, led by Colin and Nathan together from the start.
2 hours ahead of last year’s time at CP7 and 5 hours ahead of the next runner.
The race to get a finish in their best time or even just to finish by all the mid pack runners
Jonathan
Keith
Chris
Paul
Manuel
Steve
Alan
All with their own targets from new pb, another finish or scraping a first finish. Maybe even dreaming of a 5th medal!
Then there are the two runners at the back.
Hanging on by their fingernails, not long nails either.
Andy Ives the Man, Myth and Legend. 7 finishes from 10 starts and has started every TR250 ever.
This would be an 8th finish, if he can make it.
Not bad for 66 this year.
Sandra Tullett
Hard as nails previous finisher in 2015 and out to try and bag that second finish which is a rare thing in this event and really rare amongst female finishers with only two other women having more than 1 finish.
Both right on the cut-off time at CP6! Leaving with 1 minute to spare! Almost no sleep and just under 100 miles and two more days and nights to go if they can keep ahead of the cut.
The weather was now starting to close in through Friday with forecast rain due and still single figure temperatures. The Oxford canal is always damp and cold and this was going to be no better this year.
Now the race being spread out continues with myself moving forwards with the leaders, Nathan and Colin who are flying along still. Unfortunately Andy Ives and Sandra were timed out just before CP7 and unable to make it to the CP in time after battling cutoffs for the last few CP’s. We were now just 10 with a few runners still only a few minutes ahead of the cut, however the pace required between CP’s is now very generous on paper unless you are tired and need sleep! Which they do!
The weather had come in heavy now and everyone was going to experience heavy rain and wind with only the leaders seemingly escaping the worst of it. Paul Mason had a fun time getting lost in some school grounds and sitting out some of the rain in a cricket pavilion!
The paths were waterlogged and muddy and there was some localised flooding as the curious walking dead cast audition hopefuls shuffled their way towards the finish.
Colin and Nathan flew through the last CP(9) at Abingdon with only 20(ish) miles to go. That 19 miles would still take them over 7 hours at this stage of the race!
Nathan and Colin crossed the line together in a total of 72:45:11, much quicker than previously at this race. Joint 1st place.
Next in was Jonathan Burnhams for 3rd place in a great time of 79:25:27.
Next was Chris Sayles in 80:51:57, with only a slight lean!
Keith Burge had a cracking run and came in 5th in a time of 83:51:54. He did look like he had worked for it though!
6th was Paul Mason in 92:49:48, a 4th finish and 5th medal (One previous double).
7th is Manuel Nicholaus who finished in 93:15:29 with a great blister taking up the whole ball of one foot since before CP1!
Next was another great partnership, Alan Cormack and Stuart Ferguson finish in joint 8th with a time of 97:01:20.
Last but not least is Steven Whitmore in 97:08:29 for a 3rd finish and medal.
A big thanks to Open tracking who provided the live tracking for the event, you can still see the race tracking page here with all splits at CP’s and the route.
Thanks to https://www.fenixlight.co.uk/ who provided two HM65-RT v2 headtorches as prizes for 1st male and female runners, unfortunately we did not get any female finishers this year so the joint males received the prizes.
If you go to their website linked above and use the code “CHALLENGE2024” it will get you 15% off any purchase.
Special thanks must go to my amazing team of volunteers without who’s help we would not have such a successful event. Over 20 individual put in as much as 4 days hard work ensuring runners were very well taken care of.
It was another successful event and we have already updated the website and opened entries for the 2025 race, at the time of writing this we have 19 entries including 7 women which will be the highest ever percentage at over 36% so far!
Go to the website here https://challenge-running.com/thames-ring-250/
We have a discount rate till the end of this month saving £25, we also have the facility to pay over 6 instalments to spread the cost and you can insure your entry against illness, injury and other sudden issues that may prevent you taking part (all insurance info linked on the website).
This is an old school hard, simple and back to basics ultra with modern tracking and support.
We hope to see you at the race next year, only 75 places max.
Lindley Chambers
RD
Great write up, I’ve always been curious what this event involves and now I know. Sheer grit, bloody mindedness and a willingness to use up precious annual leave to achieve what to me seems impossible. Kudos to runners and volunteers alike.