We are excited to announce the following changes to the Downsman:

We have refreshed our website to reflect the changes and new rules. We are continuing to build the site to include electronic team entry, so please check-in from time to time to catch up with the latest updates.

Open Class and Class S will both now start from Westmeston Village Hall. Open Class will finish at Itford and Class S will finish at Eastbourne. We have made this change to remove the need to cross our younger teams over some very busy roads.

Class S will now have 2 awards. The original “Long Man” trophy will still be awarded to the team with the fastest time and a new award will be available to the fastest team that hikes i.e. does not run. Class S will have an additional Service Area, this means 1 lucky team member may have 2 rested sections.

Classes A & B are the same route. Teams will now start hiking from the earlier start time of 06:00. This will allow teams to make full use of daylight hours and should (in-theory) bring forward the checkpoint closing times at the far end of the Route. To help with the early start, we have hired Sutton Village Hall, this is only a 5-minute drive from the start point. Teams can stay overnight free of charge and complete their check-in and kit checks on Friday evening. Teams arriving on the day will need to head straight for the hill.

Class E route and timings remain unchanged. Please note that, with equality quite rightfully very prevalent, the award for mixed teams has been withdrawn.

Class V will now start from 08:45 at Steyning Bowl and finish at Eastbourne. This will place “Veterans” in the thick of the action. But be warned Classes E, B & A may be giving chase!

Classes A, B, E, S & V (and any Open Class teams hiking without an adult) will now carry a tracker. Service Crews will, therefore, be able to view their teams progress. We ask that Service Crews use their tracking data to arrive just ahead of their team at Service Areas with limited parking. As this is new, the Downsman will cover the cost of trackers this year and will review costs for the following year.

Please take the time to view the website in full for all of the details of the rule changes.

Downsman Committee