About the Windsor Castle Races

The Windsor Castle races are at Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield, VA. This is your chance to get in some great summer heat training on a 3.1-mile trail with about 150 ft gain per loop. Want to run, but not the whole event? Try out the Mini Windsor (2 hours) or Half Windsor (5 hours). We also have a one-lap, 5k race.

This is a low-key, manually timed event. Come out and race the course to see how many miles you can get or just enjoy time on your feet and getting some nice miles walking and running.

We are also offering a Rucking option for the 10-, 5-, and 2-hour events. The required weights for ruckers are 30 lbs for people 150 lbs or more, and 20 lbs for people under 150 lbs. Exceptions to the required rucking weights can be made upon request to the race director. Want to learn more about rucking? Check out this helpful site!

The Course

The course is 5 km long and has varied terrain, technicality, and levels of exposure. You will be running counterclockwise loops along forested rolling dirt paths, across wooden bridges, and on exposed paved paths through the park. The course features approximately 138 feet of elevation gain per loop, mostly from short rolling hills. This is the exact same course as the 2024 edition of the race. The course is an open and public park, so non-race participants will be on the course.

The Start/Finish area will be located in the grassy field on the north end of the park. There are two street crossings, one at Mile 0.23 with Jericho Road and one at Mile 2.17 at the intersection of Kayak Lane and Jericho Road, which will be monitored by volunteers throughout the race. The course will be thoroughly marked with directional signs and confidence ribbons.

The course can be seen and a GPX file can be downloaded here. The GPX file has the locations of the aid station, water stop, and restrooms. The official map of Windsor Castle Park can be found here.

Timeline

• Park Opens: 5:47 am
• Packet Pick Up: 6:00 - 7:15 am
• Race Briefing: 7:15 am
• All races start: 7:30 am.
• 10-hour race ends: 5:30 pm
• Park Closes: 8:57 pm

Late starts are allowed for the 10- and 5-hour events, but please let the race director know if you plan to arrive after the official start. If you decide to end your run early, please check-out with me (or another volunteer) before leaving. I need to make sure I have a count of all runners and where they are for safety purposes.

Awards

There are awards for the top three women and men in all events, along with a homemade finisher's medal for all finishers. If there is a tie in miles, the award goes to the runner who ran their miles the quickest.

Teams may be formed with up to six members. Teams may be formed in-person on race day morning – just talk to the volunteer handling check-in. Teams may be composed of members of different events, e.g., four 10-hour runners, one 10-hour rucker, and one 2-hour runner. The team that has the most combined miles will be recognized and rewarded after the 10-hour events end.

Logistics

Water: All participants are required to carry hydration with them while on the course. We will have water, sports drinks, sodas, and other fluids for you, however, we are cup-less event. Please bring your own cup/handheld/hydration pack for your fluid ingestion needs. In addition to the full aid station in the Start/Finish area, there will be an additional water stop at Mile 2.2.

Food: It's always a good idea to bring what you know works, however, we will also have a bountiful aid station setup for you. There will be well more than enough food for every participant to rely solely on the aid station. The aid station will be stocked with multiple varieties of the following:

• chips and crackers (including gluten-free options)
• pretzels
• cookies
• fruits
• sandwiches
• cereal bars, granola bars
• gummy and hard candies
• chocolates and candy bars
• freeze pops
• grilled cheese, quesadillas, potatoes
• ...and more!

No alcohol please. I do not have permission to have alcohol at the event.

Lap Counting and Timing: This is a manually timed event. We will have volunteers counting your laps throughout the race. The lap counters will be stationed under a canopy just beyond the Start/Finish line. After each lap, please call out your bib number and confirm your event and lap total with the lap counters, e.g., “Bib 2112, 10-Hour, Finishing Lap 3”. The first three or so laps will be crowded until participants spread out over the loop, so please take an extra moment to ensure that your lap is counted early on.

You must run a full loop in order for your loop to count. Partial loops will not count toward your total mileage for scoring. As we near the end of the 2-, 5-, and 10-hour events, we will help you with your runner math and that you could/should try to squeeze another lap in.

For 5-km participants, we will be manually recording your finish time. A race chute will be set-up on the in-field of the course adjacent to the start/finish line for 5-km runners to come through as they finish.

Set Up (Tents, Chairs, etc.): You are strongly encouraged to bring some sort of shade – umbrella, tent (regular tent or canopy style), chair with a shade, etc. We are setting up in a location with direct sun for the entire day. However, there are some trees lining the set-up area where you could put a single chair. The tent set-up approach is super fun and there is PLENTY of space. You can set-up your own tent city with friends for the day! You are asked to not be inordinately far away from the aid station and timing areas. The race staff cannot monitor your tent area, but we would like to at least have eyes on it for safety purposes.

About Windsor Castle Park and Facilities On Site

Windsor Castle Park is a wonderful park located in the Town of Smithfield. You can read about the park here.

If you've not visited the Town of Smithfield before or Isle of Wight County, please consider checking it out and staying for the weekend and supporting local businesses. It's a lovely place to visit. If you have family or friends that might want to cheer you on they'll definitely want to check out everything that's happening in the community. It's also super close to other wonderful tourist destinations if you're looking to make this a "race-cation", such as Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, and Virginia Beach.

Event's current local time: 9:22 AM ET