This was my first 100km event, which I impulse-entered after completing the Beyond Trails Newcastle 2026 which was 55km. That was so well-run that it made me enter another Wild Deer event pretty much immediately.

The pre-information for this 100km race was fantastic, as was communication before the day.

The route was gorgeous, and where it could it stayed near beautiful historical and geographical features. Naturally, there was an industrial estate here or there near the end but that's unavoidable in a region with our industrial history.

The feed stations were fantastic, and manned by some of the most cheerful and helpful people I've ever met. The volunteers at this event were above and beyond in each and every instance. Some jogged towards me with water as I approached their checkpoint, some donated their own snacks to runners who were low on supplies, and many took genuine interest in how they could make our lives easier.

The volunteers at feed station 5 and 6 bear special mention. Those at station 5 were dressed as cheerleaders and jumped up and down shouting my name as I approached which cheered me right up, and those at station 6 were incredibly emotionally supportive during a very dark period of the race (figuratively and literally, given it was around 11pm). I met volunteer 'Amy' at several times during the race who offered genuine words of support at tough times and honestly I may not have finished without her. Her words of encouragement and a hug at CP6 kept me in the game when I genuinely believed I could go no further.

The finishers medal is great, but what stands out is the T-shirt. It is far and away the best finishing shirt I've ever received in terms of design and quality. I've been showing it off to everyone! That's certainly a keeper for future years.

There's very little that could be improved. My only suggestion would be making the pre-race logistics easier. The race begins in a pretty remote location compared to urban races (but nothing compared to true trail races, admittedly) where accommodation is scarce and the parking charges very large - especially if you're leaving your vehicle overnight. It's quite hard to convince friends and family to make a 3-hour round trip to drop you off for 5:30am! I was surprised not to see a coach or minibus picking up from either the finish line maybe at 4:30am or something, or maybe a coach from Sunderland to Newcastle to Bamburgh so that people didn't have to drive all the way up the morning of and could just commute or be dropped off in town locally instead of driving the 90 minutes up to Bamburgh themselves before a long 100km day. That would mean people wouldn't have to spend £100s on accommodation, £70-£100 on taxis, or leave their car overnight in very expensive car parks. I would gladly have paid £30-£40 for a coach place from Sunderland or Newcastle, or even from the finish line in Tynemouth the morning of, rather than faff about leaving cars etc. Just a suggestion! But it's a minor niggle given how absolutely perfect the event was on the day.

Honestly, this was incredible and huge kudos to the entire team for this event. If you're reading this in future years wondering if it's worth it - it definitely is!

An outstanding inaugural event - well done to Dan, Jordan and the whole team. Maybe the best indicator of how I felt about the day is, a) I've already registered for next year, and b) I'm trying to persuade some buddies to join me. :-) There were so many good things. The weather - I know it's hard to control, but it was better than forecast, and it helped a lot. And the scenery was amazing too - i've visited most of the coastal towns, but never all in one day! Registration at the start was easy/efficient - in fact, everything about the organisation was excellent. And +all+ of the staff were amazing, encouraging, kind. Huge thanks to those who stood at remote junctions, cheering us on when we needed it most. It was great to have the coffee van appearing en route, and at the end too, and that free pasta was just what I needed. It would have been good to have slightly more substantial food options at the later checkpoints - maybe pizza slices, potatoes? And the halfway checkpoint had run out of coke, which was a disappointment. The Newbiggin-Blyth checkpoint was loooong, and it came at a tough point. If it's possible to balance those final legs, I think that would help. I'm in two minds about whether trail shoes are ideal on this ultra - if the weather had been bad, they would've been useful for short stretches, but overall, the route is mostly solid paths and more concrete than I'd anticipated. As such, my feet were wrecked by halfway, and I needed my wife to bring my softer road shoes at Newbiggin. Maybe a mid-race drop-bag option would give participants an opportunity to change food/clothes if they need to? These are all tiny tweaks though. Overall, superb job everyone. Already dreaming about next year. :-)

It was a really great event. The atmosphere was excellent, and the marshals were absolutely fantastic throughout. The route was really clearly marked and easy to follow (tho see below), and the finish was terrific. Really enjoyed it.

Just a few thoughts for future years:

The gap between the Newbiggin and Blyth feed stations is pretty big. It's nice to have a feed stations with just 7-8 miles to go, so maybe put an extra station in at Bebside?

At least one in-race bagdrop would be good, so runners can pick up their own particular foods, a change of shirt etc. This happens with other Ultras I have run.

The marshalling was superb but... on the path from Seaton Sluice towards St Mary's lighthouse/Whitley Bay links, there was a turn left from the main/obvious straight path to a very small trail that took you to the edge of the cliff. Understandably, given how tired folks were, some people missed this and headed straight on towards Whitley on the main path. Likewise, some folks missed the small loop round the lighthouse carpark and back round the back of the nature reserve (you can see this on a few finishers gpx). So it would have been very useful to have 2 more marshals, one at that first left turn, and one in/around the lighthouse carpark, so everyone did the same route distance. It's probably only an extra 800m or so, but ...

To that end (sorry, I'm being very detailed/niggly), perhaps instead of either of the 'extras' put in near the lighthouse, or the small loop round the ice-cream stall near the Priory itself (near the Grand Hotel), you could put people round Marconi Ppoint (between Browns bay and Cullercoats Bay), which is about 3-400 metres, if the route needs to make up the distance total 100km. Just a thought.

But these are just fine-tuning. It was a great day

Firstly the marshals & volunteers were amazing so helpful & enthusiastic, especially the 2 cheerleader ladies at Newbiggin just the boost I needed.
The route was well marked signs were easy to see.
The scenery was stunning & the weather on the whole was ideal.
The medal & finishers top was as good as I’ve had from any race/event I’ve done.

Few suggestions would be possibly have a drop bag at Druridge Bay, I had no one who could
Bring spare clothes, food or running shoes so had to carry clothes & food.
Would have happily paid a bit more to have a drop bag on the route.
Food at the aid stations was generally good but would have been great, to have a bit more substantial food at later stations maybe something like Pasta pots/sandwiches/salted potatoes.
As already mentioned aid station 6 a bit closer to Blyth, a tad too far from aid station 5.
At the finish would have been good to have a tent to change if needed to.
Overall a brilliant event so well done Wild Deer!

It was a fantastic day out, well marshalled and good signposts. The aid station at Druridge needs more volunteers, felt sorry for the lady as she was rushed off her feet. The gap between Newbiggin and Seaton Sluice was not good. You need an extra aid station at Furnace Bank. The last few aid stations need food stuff rather than sweets as most runners were getting sick of sweets stuff. It was a brilliant event and a few tweaks to aid stations it will be a first class event. I will be volunteering next year as the camaraderie was superb.

First 100k but 8th ultra, well organised as always. As other have said too big a gap between feed station 5/6, had 4 in first 50k then 2 in last half, luckily we had people crewing us so had our own food or would’ve struggled as I’m pretty much veggie, salted baby potatoes, pizza, water melon & chocolate filled pancakes would’ve been great. Also better selection of a snack at the end

The route was great, straightforward navigation, well signposted and marshalls in the right places at road crossings. All Marshalls were super friendly and helpful and cheered us on! Plenty of toilets en route too. Hot chocolate and pasta at the finish was welcomed.

Not sure trail shoes were needed as there was a fair amount on the road.

The gap between penultimate and final aid stations needs to be reduced, and more substantial food options needed for being eg sandwiches or similar. It’s a long time to be out on your feet without anything more than a bag of crisps or small chocolate bar.

The overall event is excellent. We probably underestimated how tough it would be and struggled after 20 miles. The fluid start point was great, get ready and go. The free coffee was appreciated. The feed stations were well positioned and the people manning them were brilliant. The feed station is my only criticism of the whole event. I personally could've done with something more substantial especially at the 40+ area. A sausage roll and a bag of crisps isn't enough when your out all day. You get fed up of sweet stuff and flapjacks. Orange or melt would be a great addition to help cleanse the pallette. Quiche of wraps are light but give you something in your stomach. We were lucky to have a support team that brought us stuff but without that I'd of had to stop somewhere in route to re-fuel. We've probably been spoilt at other other events. But we got through it and there were more marshal's than expected and every member of staff were brilliant. The the finish, you come in broken, the staff can't do enough for you, the medal is great and souvenir top is the best quality and design I've had at an event (even ones where I've paid for additional hoodies) its an absolute credit to the event. Then you get free drinks, the can of cider was almost inhaled. Only to be told there's a pasta van where you can get something to eat and complimentary as well was unexpected and I don't think this was mentioned in the pre run info. The overall event is great and if you can revise the feed stations you'll have one of the best events out there. The choice of trail shoes wasn't great either, the ground was hard and there was a lot more tarmac then I expected, this took its toll on the feet and I was thankful I had the opportunity to switch to road shoes at around 40 miles. Well done all involved, brilliant event.

Fantastic organisation - lots of marshals who were all fantastic.

Aid Station 5-6 a bit punchy, would tweak final one closer.
Would try and have a larger halfway point aid station with hot food options possibly.
Maybe have water available at start line for anyone who can’t travel with full flasks.

Incredible day out, great course and would recommend.

Food wasn’t as great as other ultras I’ve done. I would rather have paid an extra £20 and had slightly better choices at aid stations. For that distance I think need something more than mainly sweet snacks. I’m vegetarian/vegan and found other than bananas and pretzels/crisps there was very little savoury choice. Could add in vegan sausage rolls/cold pizza/sandwiches etc. also having a coffee or tea urn at one of the stations would have been appreciated (both to warm up and the caffeine hit). I didn’t want to stop and queue for a bought fancy one but a few swings of an instant would have been great.

Really enjoyed it.

Only point was that the gap between the last aid station was maybe a bit long!

Bring the final aid station closer. 24km was a long was to go for the final stretch, couldn’t help but feel like it could be potentially dangerous if weather was hotter. But overall aid stations were perfect, nicely placed for family and friends to get to, volunteers were awesome. Crowd along the way was brilliant. They really kept you going !

I would say the distance between the last 2 feed stations Newbiggin by the sea and Blyth was too far even a water stop half way between them would have been helpful, other than that everything was spot on.

My first ultra having only run 2 marathons before. Overall very good and though it was well run. Few negatives.... The first aid station had very few voom bars and only caffeinated ones. There were a few points where the signage was a bit confusing, particularly when running through the duney areas. The gap to the last aid station was too far. Luckily I was able to get 2 extra water refills, from spectators. Without this I would have run short of water well before the last aid station.

Superb setting, well marshalled/sign posted, good banter and support all the way round. Flat course kept the focus on running and endurance (& a bit of resilience!), food stations were well stocked (real coke is a big plus), not sure id change anything about the event. Well done Wild Deer

What can I say about The Priory Ultra 2026…it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but the sight of that finish line and feeling of achievement at reaching the end in such a beautiful setting was unbelievable! Definitely a bucket list tick! There were times I considered giving up and questioned if I could even finish it. Being able to have my family waiting at every feed station as well as numerous other places on the route kept me going. The event was so well organised (well done Jordan), feed stations were spaced out well and well stocked. The support on the route from the Wild Deer team, those running the feed stations and the marshalls as well as the other runners and their family and friends out to support them made for a brilliant atmosphere…and the pasta at the end was a lifesaver!

A great event for a first time 100km. Excellent marshals, easy to navigate course, good snacks and scenery that makes you want to keep
Running!!!

The marshals and support was amazing. Route is stunning. Only slight negatives were a couple of points where signage could have been a bit better and perhaps an additional checkpoint between Newbiggin and Seaton Sluice, or even just give one of the marshals water and some sweets at that point. The finish was fantastic especially the coffee and delicious and very welcome pasta.

Another aid/toilet station between Newbiggin and Seaton Sluice would have been good