The 500 competitors will take on one of the most physically and mentally demanding running races of the year. The course, which Red Bull promises tests the limits of human endurance, will follow a difficult and treacherous route across 22,8 miles of the National Park.
And the participants will have to be tactical if they want to be in with a chance of winning as there are four steeples to reach, and if they fall into the slowest third at the first three they will be eliminated. Only 40 runners will reach the final steeple in Lynmouth (Steeplechasing )
At the first knockout, Trentishoe, 160 male runners and 160 female runners will make it through to the next stage. At the second knockout, Martinhoe, 90 male runners and 90 female runners will make it through and after the third knockout, Lynton, only 20 runners will remain from each category.
The name steeplechasing derives from early horse races when riders raced from church steeple to church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and crossing many intervening obstacles on the way.