Alfriston 8km Trail

Race Description

Alfriston is routinely called one of the prettiest villages in Sussex, all timber-framed cottages and a medieval market cross, and this race is built to make you earn the view of it at the finish. The route heads out into the working farmland beneath the South Downs, an undulating, largely off-road test (83% trail, 131m of climbing) that doesn't let up much in the first half.

The reward comes later: the second half opens onto genuinely wide South Downs views before the course picks up the Old Coach Road, a historic route back into the village that's been used by travellers for centuries, for the run home. It's the kind of course locals describe as deceptively tough — nothing on it is severe in isolation, but the constant undulation adds up — which is exactly why the views in the closing kilometres feel so earned by the time Alfriston's cross comes back into sight.