Ashdown Forest 10 Mile: Winter Challenge Trail

Race Description

Run on the private Pippingford Park estate on the edge of Ashdown Forest - the East Sussex heath and woodland famous as the real-life setting behind A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories - this is the January edition of Nice Work's Ashdown Forest 10 & 5 Mile series, previously run under the Greener Earth Trail Series banner. The 10 mile is two laps of the course, on hard-packed trail that the organisers say stays largely mud-free even in winter, with around 1,568ft of climbing across the two laps combined - a genuinely undulating route with views out across the Downs rather than a flat, fast winter tune-up race.

Cash prizes go to podium finishers, and entrants get a bespoke medal and free parking on the private estate. Being run in January, it works as a serious winter fitness test or early-season form-check for trail and fell runners rather than a beginner-friendly introduction, given the distance and the accumulated climbing over two laps. It suits runners who enjoy a proper hilly trail outing with some history and setting behind it, more than anyone chasing a fast, flat 10-mile time.