Hardmoors 160 Relay 2025 - Teamwork Makes the Dream work!

Another fab weekend for Team Chia Charge, for the last 4 years we have taken part in the Hardmoors 110 Mile race around this time of year and always have the most amazing weekend of banter, eating , drinking and some running thrown in.

For this years relay we stepped up to the 160 mile course and unbelievably it was even better fun. With 5 on the team and an extra vehicle and driver, it seemed to flow so much better. We were out from Friday 5pm to Sunday 2am.

With each of us having a tracker for our relay legs, we could watch how we were doing versus the rest of the field and the amazing solo runners that were doing the whole race on their own!

 

Team CC at Sutton Bank before the start 50pm Friday night

 

Unusually we found ourselves out at the Yorkshire coast around sun rise  4-5am, unusual because in the previous years we have run the Hardmoors 110 and it typically starts at 8am, so here we were heading out on the coast some 3 hours before the other race started and roughly 12 miles ahead of them (this becomes more important later on).

 

Here's a fine view  between Ravenscar and Robin Hoods Bay around 6 to 7am, I obviously should have been running at this point!

With things running ahead of plan pretty much from the start, it meant that some promised treats were unavailable on the route, in fact the changing timings caused a few disappointments for the runners.

Most notably, when passing through Whitby the ice cream van outside Whitby Abbey apparently isn't there at 7am (who knew?) and also the chip shops are shut at that time of day also!   On the bright side it did make running down the 199 steps and through the town centre quite a bit easier.

 

Below Emma running into Whitby, before she realised the Ice Cream van was AWOL!

 

Further along the coast at Runswick Bay there was some discussion about high tide and whether Lisa would need to take the diversion around the tops. 

Lisa decided to brave it and albeit with some soggy toes she came charging into Runswick Bay having done a speedy leg from Sandsend.

 

Lisa on the Beach below

 

Therafter a few skips and a run took us into Saltburn where we headed inland and up towards Guisborough and Roseberry Topping

Craig really put in a great shift here and onto Gribdale, he was well rewarded when Sally took him off to Dominos straight afterwards😄

 

Craig running away from Roseberry below

 

As we were approaching Claybank and the Three Sisters, we could see a relay team from the 110 race were making a super speedy approach and after that we really had it in our minds that we would like to be the 1st team back to the race finish at Helmsley which was roughly 30 miles away. 

However we were now keeping a keen eye on the 2 person team in the relay that seemed to be absolutely flying, with what seemed like an unsustainable 12km/ hour type pace.  They eventually finished in around 18 hours for the 110 miles, congratulations to them. that was amazing, they got to the finish not long after us.

On we went, changing runners every 4 or 5 miles, until we hit Sneck Yat where Lance picked up an 8 mile stretch, a big ask when there was some pressure on, he made a great job, leaving only a few more miles to the finish.  quick changeover at Cold Kirby around  1am left Emma with the anchor leg and she blasted it in, in fine style.

 

Entering the finish with a smile Emma at Helmsley below

 

Lance has got his hands on the prize, but also found out there's no breakfast or kebabs available in Helmsley at 2am on a Sunday morning !

 

 

The marshals on the course were superb and encouraging, often having to arrive at checkpoints a couple of hours early as were running ahead of schedule.

Taking time to be with friends doing fun things is never wasted time, and I look forward to this weekend every year, I would encourage anyone to give it a go.

With the 160 only happening every 2 years, we will at least hold the record for a couple of years.