Saturday 1st of March 2025 saw a mixture of 810 runners and walkers congregate at Harby village hall for the start of the annual Belvoir Challenge.
This somewhat now infamous local event, known for its spectacular views, great cakes and, more often than not, excessive levels of mud, sees participants complete either a 15 or 26 mile loop on the trails and roads around the Vale of Belvoir. The course varies each year but always starts and finishes at Harby’s village hall as the event is in aid of Harby’s village school.
This year runners were treated to a anticlockwise loop taking in the villages of Stathern, Eaton, Branston, the Belvoir Castle Estate, Woolsthorpe, Redmile and, of course, Harby (The 15 milers cutting across the top of the castle estate to meet up with the 26 milers on Jubilee Way).
This year saw almost “perfect” Belvoir challenge conditions with the sun shining and only moderate mud levels around the course. A stark difference compared to last years’ event! Rain earlier in the week had threatened to increase the levels of “muddage” but thankfully didn’t do to any great level and the rain stayed away for the actual event.
Runners and walkers lining up in green and black for the 26 miles this year were:
Ross Warden
Craig Drury
Caroline Davis
Peter Jennings
And for the 15 miles:
Sophie Davies
The 9am start soon came around and the runners and walkers were away. Peter made a great start, possibly with the aim at getting to the first lot of cakes before the others (a great strategy!) and the others 26ers taking a slightly more sedate pace, sticking together until just before the last checkpoint. At this point Craig had a moment of madness, deciding to run up the hill that forms the main part of Belvoir Castle’s summer parkrun course, and Caroline deciding to skip the final checkpoint’s bounty of refreshments (possibly an even crazier decision than Craig’s).
Ross was in no mood to run at this point but was in a great mood to eat cakes and cheese. As delights had been sampled at each checkpoint Ross considered it “mission complete” and ran-walked the final few Kms to the finish line. Only catching one “only a parkrun to go!” as he did so.
All crossed the line in under 5 hours 45 minutes, a great result given the terrain and conditions, and were welcomed into Harby village hall with soup and pudding with custard – The challenge’s version of a medal and goody bag!
With a varying course, unpredictable conditions, and those years when you just want a nice walk, it’s hard to compare year on year performance but this year’s results are:
26 Mile
1st (M): James Hargreaves – 03:25:44
1st (F): Lucy Gossage – 03:40:44
GRC
52nd: Peter Jennings – 04:55:25
81st: Caroline Davis – 05:29:09
82nd: Craig Drury – 05:29:26
97th: Ross Warden – 05:43:57
15 Mile
1st (M): Marlon Dunkley – 01:44:40
1st (F): Natalie Bunce – 02:03:12
GRC: 270th: Sophie Davies – 03:41:36
Full results list can be found here: Belvoir Challenge
