We’re heading back to the home of Cranborne Chase Cider, Myncen Farm, once again in July 2024 for the always popular Cider and Piggy Plod weekend – with a brand-new race addition: Cider 24.
Oh yes, we’re doing what we’ve said we’d do for years and years, and trying out a 24-hour race. We already host our popular Frolics over 12 hours, so now you get a chance to attempt to run for double that! There’s a lot of planning to do to get this right, but we’ll give you an overview of the event here, and keep you updated along the way.
The Cider weekend is traditionally quite a warm one, and the course offers little shade (which is why this event is not dog friendly), but many runners tell us that it’s their favourite event. That could be the glorious countryside views, the fun atmosphere and the great entertainment. Or it could be the copious amounts of cider available.
2024 event schedule
The 2024 weekend on 19th-21st July has everything you already love about this event. You can arrive from the Friday lunchtime to set up camp in our large field. We charge a single pitch price for the whole weekend – one pitch = one unit (tent, caravan, camper), but we don’t charge anything extra for children/dogs/extra adults. If you need two units to fit everyone in, then get two pitches. We think our camping prices are cheap for a weekend in Dorset, and it includes access to water, the toilets and the showers, and rubbish collection. Dogs are welcome, but this is a farm, so they must be on a lead; children are also very welcome, but do keep an eye on them as this is a working farm environment and there are dangers. We love to see whole families rocking up to camp. The facilities are very basic, but the atmosphere is great! Please book your camping in advance. If you do rock up on the weekend without a booking, there will be an additional admin fee payable for late pitches. Admin will open from 3pm so you can collect your race numbers for the weekend.
The 24-hour race starts on the Friday evening – but see our section about this race further down, as there is a lot more to say! On the Saturday we will have our Cider Frolic starting at 8am and running for 12 hours. You can enter as a Team or a Solo runner, and see how many laps you can do in a 12-hour period. The lap distance for these events will be confirmed very soon – it varies each year slightly as it depends on the fields we can use around harvesting, but it is usually one of our shorter lapped routes of around 5-6km. If you’ve never run a Frolic with us before, we have a guide here.
On the Saturday night we have entertainment provided by the wonderful Dr Beatroot, who many of you will have seen at previous events and they’ve gone down a storm! It’s going to be a real party night for the whole family, with the live music and bar, plus a huge celebration of your achievements in the Cider 24 or Cider Frolic. It should be a great atmosphere.
Then, on the Sunday we have our Piggy Plods. The kids’ race is first at 9am (before it gets too hot; also we know the kids are up early, especially if they’re camping, and less likely to be hungover – we very much hope) and is around 4km. Then there is the adult Piggy Plod, which is about 10km and a two-lap course, starting at 10:00am.
Refreshments will be available during the weekend, including Espressoul. to keep you caffeinated!
Cider 24
So, the new one! We’re giving you the option to take on the mighty 24-hour challenge for the first time in our history. It will run the same as our 12-hour Frolics… but for double the time! You can enter as a Solo runner or a Team runner, and you can complete as many laps as you like the in the time period. For Teams, you can be Small (2 runners), Medium (3-4 runners) or Large (5-6 runners), so you can decide who will be running then, and catch up on much-needed sleep in between. Solo runners can stop and start as much as they need to.
The 24 hours will start on the Friday evening at 6pm. We have chosen this so that you can get some laps out of the way while it’s still light, and to do the night running early on while you’re relatively fresh. You will need to finish your laps by 6pm on the Saturday when the 24 hours is up! The course is on the same loops as the Cider Frolic, so on the Saturday morning from 8am you’ll be joined by a whole host of new runners, which we hope will help keep you motivated when the going gets tough. You could even encourage friends to enter the Frolic and keep you company for a few laps on the Saturday!
There will be a brand-new medal for this event, which we’re working on now and will show you as soon as possible. There will be prizes for the top 3 women and top 3 men, based on total distance achieved, as well as the top 3 teams for each size (Small, Medium and Large). There are, of course, a lot of extra logistics to consider with a 24-hour event. You can expect all of the usual support from the aid station teams during the night, and there will be access to hot water all night so that you can prepare food and drinks as you need to. We are looking at setting up a buddy system for overnight to give support to those who may not be confident with night running alone.
There will be more information to come over the coming months. Make sure that you’re in the Event group for the latest updates.
Entries and camping will be available from 7pm on Friday 22nd December: https://whitestarrunning.clubtrac.co.uk/e/cider-piggy-weekend-7914