CANARY TRAIL EVENTS
Canary Trail Events are an environmentally friendly trail running company based in Surrey, bringing you exceptionally runner friendly, trail races, marathons, ultra marathons and special charity raising events.
Our team has years of experience in running races from 5k all the way up to 500km, guiding night runs with runners of all abilities and putting on our big charity fundraiser of the year over the festive period, the now “famous” 1st Annual Headtorchruns Marathon. The team at Canary Trails are incredibly passionate about trail running and we work hard to create amazing events in the Surrey Hills and North Downs, areas of outstanding natural beauty.
Canary Trail Events is home to the original Copthorne Coffee race place. The idea is based on the Pending/Suspended coffee which started out in Italy as a way of buying a person in need a cup of coffee in an anonymous act of charity. Indeed, Canary Trail Events Mission Statement is: To bring challenging race formats to areas of outstanding beauty, whilst maintaining a back-to-basics style of event.
Allan Rumbles
Allan set up Canary Trail events in 2019 to help cover the costs of our charity fundraising event, the 1st Annual Headtorchruns Marathon and to put on other fun running events. It has grown fantastically and we now have a great team dedicated in keeping our vision going.
Allan cut his teeth running Marathons but fell in love with the trails after running the London to Brighton trail race. This has lead on to running Marathons and Ultras all over Europe and he officially retired from racing after the Legends 500 in 2020. He currently has itchy feet though and is planning his return to the Ardennes.
The Canary, yep, just ask him.
Emma Page-Moore
Emma has completed over 40 marathons and ultras since she started running in 2018. In 2022 she completed the Centurion 50 slam with the first event just six months after giving birth to her son. 2023 was a huge year for Emma, as she took on The Dragons Back, acheived an incredible first place finish at the Snowdon 24, second at The Vanguard Way and third at the Bedgebury Half Marathon and The Copthorne 50k. Emma enjoys her role as one of our Female Ambassadors and is passionate about working to make our events better for women.
Rachel Brookes
Right from school running has been a lifelong love for our Female Ambassador Rachel. As part of the local athletics club she competed on the track in the summer and cross country in the winter. In 2018 Rachel tried night trail running for the first time and finished the year with the 2nd 1st Annual Headtorchruns Marathon raising money for liver cancer research. In November 2023 she upped the distance and entered the Copthorne Races 50k.
The Canary Team
We are runners too. The Canary Trail Events team come in all shapes, sizes and running backgrounds, but we all share a passion for delivering outstanding running experiences. Collectively it helps us to create accessible and enjoyable events with a little twist of fun. From the iconic and challenging Copthorne Races or Two Towers, the team fun of ClueDoh!, or the plunge into the unknown of the Steeple Chase, we try and make every event something that you will remember for a long time.
What exactly is “A Copthorne Coffee”?
The Copthorne coffee idea is based on the Pending/Suspended coffee which started out in Italy as a way of buying a person in need a cup of coffee in an anonymous act of charity.
This came to us after one of our CTE regulars contacted us to say that they had had a good year and wanted to donate a place on the Copthorne 100 for anyone who wanted to race but was struggling a little with the financial crisis. We thought that it was a fantastic idea and immediately matched it with a free place from us as well. We advertised the places and were amazed at the response from the Canary trails community, with offers of donations coming in thick and fast.
We took stock and decided that the best way to allocate the donated funds was not to apply them to a specific distance but to match them to the requests from runners suffering a little financially but wanting to race on a first come, first served basis.
We do not judge and we do not think any one person is more deserving than another. We match the funds raised and we allocate the places as & when they are needed. All donors to the fund and racers who take a coffee place remain anonymous if they so wish.
At the moment, The Copthorne Coffee fund only goes towards race places and unfortunately we cannot help out financially with travel & accommodation costs. We will help where we can, but we are a small company primarily focused on our Charity fundraising so we have very little spare cash.
CTE will match each donation given towards free race places. The “Coffee” places are available on the Copthorne races from the 50km up to the 100miler and The Two Towers 50km night race.
Copthorne Coffee
Sophie Dodgeon
Sophie came to trail running in her 40’s. After several road half marathons she did her first trail event in 2019 and loved it. She’s a regular with the 'Wednesday Night Headtorch Group' and enjoys the experience of soggy shoes, muddy tracks and beautiful moonlit evenings with the other oddballs. In 2023 Sophie smashed a second-place finish at the Copthorne Races 50km. She says that trail running gives her a headspace that nothing else can beat, and in her role as one of our Female Ambassadors, she would love to see more women get curious about it, feel confident about getting out, either alone or in groups.
Treymane Dill Cowdry
Tremanye has a hands on role with CTE, helping with course design, course maintenance and volunteering. He is committed to helping the CTE team put on great events that are really in the spirit of races he would want to enter himself. Tremayne has an amazing race record including Western States, UTMB and Spartathlon, UTS165, The Arc, Dragons Back, Lakeland 100, Cockbains 3 peaks and a Bob Graham round. Badwater is top of his bucket list along with Tor de Geants and he's working towards 10 Thames path 100 finishes after which he says he's never running along the Thames again.
Pete Hammond
Pete helps on the marketing side for CTE, and when not filming things, he also helps with course design and volunteering. Pete evolved into trail running after competing in triathlon. He loves being out on the trail, and night running is his favourite thing (wierdo). His race highlights include an MDS finish, a couple of South Downs Ways 100’s and Lakeland 100’s as well as a Thames Path 100 and several 50 milers. In 2017 he completed the Thames Ring 250. Pete also runs the CTE Navigation Courses pulling on a decades experience in the Royal Marines.
Ian Hadley
Ian has been part of the CTE team for 5 years and describes his role as a ‘jack of all trades”, from sorting out timing, marshalling races, directing parking, taking photos and film clips to making tea and coffee (lots of tea and coffee). He also designed the Canary Trail Events logo. Ian has run over 20 marathons with his favorites’ being Marathon De Medoc France (there was wine involved?), Marathon Eryri in North Wales and The South Downs Marathon. He’s also completed the London to Brighton 100K twice.
Mike Rowell
Back in 2013, a work colleague challenged Mike to run the London 10K with him. On Mikes first run he was hooked. He ran his first marathon in 2015 and first ultra 2016 and first 100 miler in late 2018. Mikes bucket list includes Tor des Geants. Mike manages the volunteer organisation for Canary Trail Events, he makes sure we have all roles filled for all the races and makes sure all volunteers are fully briefed, happy and confident in the roles they are doing.
Leila Rose
Leila didn’t take up running until she was 38, but fell in love with it immediately, increasing her distances year on year she completed her first 100 miler four years later on the North Downs Way. This fuelled her love of the NDW, and to this day it remains her favourite trail. Female Ambassador Leila completed her second 100 miler with a sub 24hr time, and winning the Serpent Trail 100k and St Albans 12hr were the highlights. There is nothing she enjoys more than spending hours running on the trails.
Fancy being part of the Canary Crew? You can volunteer for any of our events by filling out the form on this page. Our races only survive because of the generosity of spirit of the volunteers and their enthusiasm to get every runner to the finish. What we need. Course markers, Car Park Marshals, Registration staff, Road marshals, Checkpoint volunteers and Sweepers.
Typical duties involve:
Course Markers
Marking the course with our signs and tape, we’ll need a team for this as it usually takes an average of 5hrs per 10mile section.
Car-Park Marshals
Our car-park holds 60 cars and while we actively encourage car sharing it does fill up. The Marshals are essential in maintaining smooth entry to the car-park and then organising the overflow onto the main road.
Registration Staff
Kit check and registration of the runners for the races.
Road Marshals
Keeping the racers safe as they approach and cross the roads.
Checkpoint & HQ volunteers
Raising the gazebo or organising the hall. Setting out the tables for the foodstuffs and water containers. Refilling racers bottles if needed, recording numbers as they pass & most importantly of all, keeping the runners going!
Sweepers
The sweepers follow the last runners and aim to hit the checkpoints at each cut-off. They clear the course markings as they go and pick up any litter that a runner may inadvertently drop as they progress along the route.
Volunteers
Volunteer Points - how we say thank you
This year, we’re using a points system for our volunteer teams. Instead of giving you a free race place in the event you volunteered at, you’ll earn points to put towards any of our races you want to enter. (There are no charity events for points or free entry.)
The points needed for race place are:
10 POINTS: Surrey Hills Marathon, Copthorne 50k, Copthorne 50 miles or the Two Towers
12 POINTS: Copthorne 100km, Winterfold 55
14 POINTS: Copthorne 100 miles
You earn 1 point for each hour of volunteering (with a minimum of 4 hours per event). Any leftover volunteering points will be carried over for the following 12 months. If you have 12 points and claim a 10-point race place, your remaining 2 points will be carried over for the next 12 months, and you can volunteer again to top them back up.
Mementos. Why should the runners get all the mementos? Starting with the Surrey Hills Marathon, every volunteer will get a small bespoke memento, and if you volunteer for the four Slam events, you'll also get a Volunteer Slam memento to say thanks for all of your help.
What you also get!
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A Canary Crew Technical T-Shirt
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Food and drink for your shift
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The undying appreciation of the runners as they pass you on the course
To register as a volunteer, fill in the form below, and our Volunteer Captain will contact you.
Please complete the form and let us know which even you would like to volunteer for and we will get back to you with more details.
