Ashurst's Beacon race

"The Ashurst" is a hilly mixed terrain winter race in West Lancashire. It takes place in early January, usually the second Saturday. It has been a regular fixture in the FRA calendar for many years until a) FRA changed their race criteria, b) the original venue - the Prince William pub, closed it's doors for the last time in 2020.

The race has been popular with hill runners both local and from further afield. This mostly fast course can sometimes be heavy going with mud in places and has a sting in it's tail!

Newburgh Nomads are proud to announce the return of this race on 13 January 2024, the first edition of the event since 2020!

The 2020 race had a turnout of 152 runners, and we'd like to see another great turnout this year.

Download the race flyer

Location

Beacon Visitor Centre Café, Beacon Country Park, Beacon Lane, Up Holland, WN8 7RU .

what3words address: ///braced.sing.barstool

OS grid ref: SD 505 066

Registration

Race registration is at the Beacon Visitor Centre Café . Entry fee is £5. Minimum age for runners is 16 yrs. Entries on the day only!

Registration opens from 10:45am on 13 January 2024. The visitor centre serves food and drink between 10:30am and 3pm during the winter season. Also, basic hot drinks will be available at race reception at a reduced price for runners.

There is a good 1/2 mile walk to the start line. The route to the start will be marked. Please ensure you register with plenty of time to spare, it will take 10-15 minutes walk or 5-10 minutes jog to the start. The race will start at 12pm prompt, 13 January 2024.

If you retire from the race, please inform the closest event marshal, race finish, or race registration before leaving the event.

The event will be run under ARC rules.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded to:

The first 5 male and first 5 female finishers
Winner of each male/female age category
Team of 3 male runners, and team of 3 female runners.

Teams must be from affiliated clubs to count (England/Scotland Athletics or ARC registered). No mixed teams.

Route

The route is approximately 9.6km (6mi) in length, with 305m (1000ft) of climb, much of which is in the last third of the course. The course is partially marked where appropriate with marshals on hand too. The remainder should be obvious.

The route for the "anytime race" is shown here. A new race map will be available soon.

Thanks

Thanks go to friends at Skelmersdale Boundary Harriers for support and inspiration to keep this race going, and to The Endurance Store for supporting local racing in the North West of England.

We also thank many of our regular runners who ran the "anytime" event in 2021 which raised money for the foodbank in Digmoor, Skelmersdale, and to The Endurance Store for supporting the 2021 race with T-shirt prizes for the winners.