Butcombe Trail Ultra
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About the race
Butcombe Trail Ultra is a pair of self-navigation ultramarathons run around pubs in the Mendip Hills, a designated area of outstanding natural beauty. The course is mostly off-road and crosses the Mendips, offering long sections of running country and open views. Runners start and finish at the Race HQ at Mendip Activity Centre and in 2027 both races follow an anti-clockwise format used previously.
The event offers these distances:
- 50 Miles - self-navigation ultramarathon around pubs
- 50 Kilometres - self-navigation ultramarathon around pubs
Entries open and close on published dates and the minimum age is 20 on the event date. The organisers froze entry fees at 2026 levels. The 50 mile race requires entrants to have completed a trail marathon since 1 January 2026; the 50 km race has no such requirement but expects runners to be confident with the distance and self-navigation. Both races are qualifying events for UTMB and related races.
The races are organised by volunteer members of Town and Country Harriers to benefit the Mendip Hills Fund; previous events have donated over £20,000 to that fund. The event provides marshals, checkpoint crews, food and fluids around the course and generous checkpoint cutoffs. Practical rules include a strong discouragement of headphones with both earpieces removed at checkpoints and marshalled road crossings, one pacer allowed from the final checkpoint, mandatory kit requirements, and a pregnancy refund policy. Guide runners for visually impaired or disabled competitors are welcomed and may enter free of charge though they are not prize eligible. Visit the organization's website for the most recent information.
