Croft Tackle the first ever BMR hosted by Hay Hotfooters
13th September 2025
When Mick Collins from Hay Hotfooters described his planned Black Mountain Relay I said that it sounded very interesting. What I wanted to say was that I didn’t really understand it. I know what a relay is, but the option to have a 5 or 10 person team to run 50km felt overwhelmingly complex.
Point to point races are difficult enough with the need for transport and having the right kit at the finish. Add in runner changes along the route and it can be a logistical nightmare. Why would you choose to try and organise 10 changes? I entered a team of 5. I could sort out the logistics later.
I’ve done a fair few Mountain Marathons where you get the map after you start. The clock has started when you’re trying to plan your route – often on a hillside in the rain. The BMR is far more civilised. You get the map two weeks before the run. This gave four of us – Nina, Emma, Angus and myself time to get together on a very wet Sunday morning to plan how we were going to tackle the race. There is something very nice about being inside on a wet day, perusing maps fuelled by coffee and cake. It’s a bit like choosing seeds or bulbs when it’s miserable outside. You’re sort of gardening – but in the warm.
Stuart was in the warm. On his boat in the med to be precise. Hey ho.
Although we had entered a team of 5, two of our team had buddy runners. Nina was joined by Kath and Emma had Jo M to keep her company on her leg. The whole event is very flexible, so running in pairs is an option.
The Relay starts in Crickhowell and finishes in Hay. In between there are 7 ‘gates’ or check-points that have to be visited. There’s no physical check point, you just ned to pass within a few metres of the Grid Reference.
The race is nominally 50k, but, in reality, this is a minimum. The distance covered by teams ranged from 54km to 59km. It’s a similar situation with elevation, get your planning awry and you’ll be climbing far more than you need to.
You can start from 7am so Angus and I camped the night 15 minutes from the start in Crickhowell. There were only 7 teams in this first running of the event including from Builth, Monross and Malvern Buzzards. The forecast looked variable at best so all the teams were away by 7:30 hoping to make the best of the dry morning.
Angus was on the first leg climbing up from Crickhowell past Table Top and onto the Cambrian Way heading North to Hay. We’d had to estimate the handover times as best we could. Angus had a 2,000 foot climb over about 13km. We were about right with our estimated 2 and a bit hours. Angus handed over to Nina and Kath who ran a 15km section.
In theory you can follow the team member with the tracker on an App. It did drop in and out though so it wasn’t really possible to adjust the handover times without the risk that you might miss meeting one of your runners.
One strategy that’s worthwhile is to get your non-runners to do as much climbing as possible, leaving your runners on high ground. I opted for a 1,200 foot climb over a mile to take my handover from Stuart on the Offas’ Dyke Way. Unfortunately our planning had left Stuart with a similarly tough climb from Llanthony Priory – with the tracker. Sorry Stu, we’ll have a closer look at those contours next time!
As I waited for Stu I could see a jet black front of cloud moving my way. From experience you need to get everything on before anything hits you. Jacket, waterproof trousers, hat and gloves all wet on – and just in time. The temperature plummeted and a hail storm hit. It didn’t last long but showed that you have to be ready for anything when you’re out on the hills.
After that I had an easy 8km run across to Hay Bluff and down to Gospel Pass to meet Emma and Jo who finished the relay with a 11km run into the finish at Hay.
Stu and I were able to get to the finish and wolf down some tea and cake before we cheered them in.
Our Team, ‘Up The Ambrey’, finished in 8 hrs 50 minutes and won the Mixed Team Prize. The winning team, from Cardiff, completed the challenge in just over 5 hours. But they were young guys in their 20’s … and they might … just might have spent a little more time planning their route and tactics.
Next year it’s more planning … and tea and cake.
If you’re interested, there’s already a web site for next year’s race.
https://www.black-mountain-relay.co.uk
Our hamper for winning the mixed team prize.
A big thank you to Mick and Sharron Collins and the Hay Hotfooters team
