It’s not often an ultrarunning race comes across a film crew shooting scenes for a potential Hollywood blockbuster – but that seems to have been the case at the South Downs Way 100 earlier this month.
The profile of the popular 100-mile event had already been raised significantly this year after it became part of the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors for the first time, the only UK race in the series.
Best Picture winner
And around two thirds of the way into this year’s race, the leaders apparently came across the crew filming the sequel to the Oscar-winning epic Gladiator, which is again directed by Ridley Scott.
Local reports and a follow-up in the Daily Mail showed showed what are understood to be some reshoots on the South Downs after the bulk of the filming had been done in Morocco.
Pictured in the photos was 28-year-old Irish actor Paul Mescal, in character as Roman Empire Lucius Verus, the grown-up son of Lucilla, who was portrayed as a child in the 2000 original starring Russell Crowe.
‘Unusual incident’
The close encounter between ultrarunners and Gladiators was recounted on social media by Keith Simpson, father of Cat Simpson, who was the emphatic winner of the women’s race.
Having finished second in the event twice before, the GB international seized control around the halfway and went on to win by nearly an hour from American Karen Benway, in a total time of 19 hours and 26 minutes.
Keith Simpson explained: “There was a very unusual incident during the race. As the early runners approached Devils Dyke at 66 miles they encountered the film crew of Gladiator 2 who tried to send them on a slightly different route.
“Unsurprising the Centurion staff [Ed: the race organisers] quickly contacted them to sort this out.”
