What is TrailFest?

It’s a day of moving around wonderful woodland for all abilities, speeds and experiences. Whether you’re an experienced ultra runner keen to get an early season 50 km in or a newbie trail runner looking to do their first 10K TrailFest is for you!

We’ve got 4 distances for you to chose from 10K, half marathon, marathon and 50 km. A distance to suit everyone!

The idea of the day is to bring everyone together and to experience the fun of trail running in an amazing forest. Being around others doing what seems impossible can often make it seem a lot more possible too!! If you want to come and run your personal best or bimble about with your mates we’ve got the perfect distance for you.

We’ve got vey generous cut off times too, to try and remove some of those barriers to new people trying out the sport.

Where is it?

Salcey Forest is a Forestry England site with a café and toilets near Northampton. Use the post code NN7 2HX for Sat Navs . It is here on What 3 Words.

You do have to pay to park (between £3.80 - £9 at the time of writing). That said, be a hero and car share, save money and the world!

The number 33 bus stops inside Salcey Forest (just after 9am) and goes between Northampton and Milton Keynes (check for Sunday times)

It is 18 minutes from Northampton and 9 minutes from Junction 15 of the M1. The closest train station is Northampton.

Can I run with my dog?

Not at these events. As the event is run under a UK Athletics/ Trail Running Association license there are no dogs allowed at any of the events.

Course description

The different routes all use similar sections of the forest. The majority of the routes are along well maintained pathways. There isn't a meter of asphalt (except 2 road crossings for the longer events!) and the pathways are mainly crushed stone or very well trodden open forest floor.

The previous editions of this event have been in mid-spring, we’ve moved to the summer to give a “better” underfoot experience - no trench foot hopefully in June! If it’s been raining however the ground may be soft as there are sections over grassland. Expect a hard packed trail for the vast majority of the route however. Watch the video for full details.

If the weather has been typical of he season you could run this event in road shoes, although a light trail shoe is probably ideal given the uneven stoney surface that covers most of the route. Personal choice of course!

What does it cost?

We operate a tiered pricing approach. The earlier you enter, the cheaper the event but never ever will you pay a booking fee!

10K

Before 28/05/2026 £20

After 28/05/2026 £25

Half Marathon

Before 28/05/2026 £35

After 28/05/2026 £40

Marathon

Before 28/05/2026 £51

After 28/05/2026 £56

50K

Before 28/05/2026 £62

After 28/05/2026 £72

Unaffiliated entrants pay £2 extra. Why not join your local running club or sign up the Big Bear Brigade and save 10% off entries for ever! If you were on our Very Important Bear mailing list you could have also saved 20% before the event was launched!

Can I run as many laps as I want?

Not at this event. This may seem an odd question to answer but given the majority of our events are 6 hour lapped events it’s one I’m sure people will have!

What are the timings for each event?

50 km

Registration Open – 07:00

Event Start – 08:00

Marathon

Registration Open – 07:00

Event Start – 08:30

Half Marathon

Registration Open – 08:00

Event Start – 09:00

10 km

Registration Open – 08:00

Event Start – 09:00

Can I have crew or pacers?

Yes and no. You can have crew, they’re really helpful for longer events but you cannot have pacers. To be clear, that means no-one can run with you or walk alongside you for any period of time except in the final 100m or so.

We actively encourage spectators and supporters but they must not move along the trail with you. They can pop up all over the course though - or just stay in the cafe all day!

There is a large grass area near the HQ that can be used to put a gazebo up if your team, club, or supporters wish to. Just let us know beforehand if you plan to do this.

Are there cut offs?

Yes, but they’re pretty generous! The cut off for the event is 19:00. So for the 50 km event that means an 11 hour cut off - 21min/mile pace.

All other events have the same 19:00 cut off - so that’s 10 hours to do the 10k!

Our cut off’s aren’t mean to be punitive, we just have to let volunteers and medics when they can go home! In the last 3 years only 1 person has been within 1 hour of an 11 hour cut off on this course and they had about 30 minutes to spare.

I’ve heard you do cupless events?

That’s right! Read all about how we do cupless events here

Is there mandatory kit?

This is different for different distances and strictly enforced for each piece of mandatory kit missing 1 hour will be added to your finish time.

For 10k entrants there is no mandatory kit although a cup/bottle for water is strongly recommended. There are NO CUPS at this event. If you don’t carry a cup you cannot drink water!

Half marathon/Marathon/50k entrants a cup/bottle capable of holding 200ml minimum is mandatory.

It' is strongly advised to carry a foil blanket and a charged mobile phone.

These are mandatory minimum’s if you want to carry more or extra kit then please do so, this is to make you safe not to make you run to your best ability.

What if I need to withdraw?

It happens. Injuries, life events… forgetting you’ve booked it! You can see our specific withdrawal policy for the TrailFest events here. They are a little different to our other events but still much better than most other events companies. I think they are fairer than most and as such they will be adhered to.

Has the event been run before?

Yes! We’ve run at Salcey Forest many times. You can read the reviews here

I’m unsure what to expect at TrailFest?

It’s a great day of trail running in the forest. The format means it’s great for clubs and groups to support people doing varying distances and the generous cut offs mean it’s great for those looking to increase their distances. Whatever your experience or ability we’ll do everything we can to support you for the day.

We’ve tried to make as much video content as possible so you can see what our events are like. Have a look at our YouTube channel. The key is that these event are for everyone. There is no such thing as too slow!

What do I get when I finish?

All finishers will get one of the above medals and choice of Big Bear drink too.

Is there a gpx of the route?

The routes can be found at the bottom of the page, you can click on them to download the gpx. To be clear, the course will be heavily marked on the day so the gpx files should only be necessary as a back up.

I still have questions…

Then why not join our Big Bear Events Facebook group and ask our ever so experienced runners in there or email us directly here. We want you to enter with the confidence you’ll have a great (if not tiring!) day so are happy to answer any question we’ve not covered off here.

Description supplied by the event organiser.