North Downs Way 100 2026

Kane Porter won the men's 2026 North Downs Way 100 in 17:55:30, and Zoe Smith won the women's race in 20:51:40, ninth across the line overall. Andrew Churchill was second man in 18:28:20 with Macaulay Jordan third in 18:39:53; Jana de Waal followed Smith in 21:04:03 with Flic Archer third woman in 21:45:52. Gray Baker took the non-binary category in 25:20:34.

Heat decided the sixteenth edition. Centurion Running's own report describes a mild start turning into a hot afternoon, ice carried at the first eight checkpoints, and the runners still out on Sunday morning meeting the heat a second time. Of the 245 who started, 136 finished, 43 of them inside 24 hours.

Smith led the women's race from the gun and was never headed, holding the gap she had built by the 15-mile checkpoint at Newlands Corner all the way to the line; Archer came past 2025 Autumn 100 champion Sophie Seward at mile 91 for third. The men's race turned over twice before Porter had it, with James Bennett leading early, Harry Pickering through halfway at Knockholt Pound, and Porter going by at mile 70. Neither winning time approached the course records, which stand at 15:18:41 and 18:13:58. The last finisher, 70-plus veteran Iain Walker, closed the race in 29:54:56, about five minutes inside the 30-hour cutoff.