17/09/2025
In a calendar full of races, itโs hard to get runners interest for a new event, but throw in a self-navigating relay challenge, and it seems to get their attention. Saturday saw the inaugural running of the Black Mountains Relay Challenge. As this was the first year, it was mainly an invitational, but word had already spread of this event with clubs from as far away as Cardiff joining in. Two weeks before the race, the teams were given the start and end points along with the 7 checkpoints that they would have to navigate. Rather than seeing a manned station, these checkpoints were geolocated points on a map, predominantly trig points or cairns, that the tracker (or baton) would sense as they went through. The starting point was Crickhowell and from there the teams headed up over Pen Cerrig-calch and onto Pen Alt-mawr, where the first checkpoint was located. Around this area they would also have encountered the first of the roving marshals, a band of hill-hardened Hotfooters who roamed the ridges, checking on the runners for wellbeing and compliance with the rules! So far so straightforward, but from this point on, it was fascinating to see the different routes that the teams chose. Teams were made up of 5 or 10 runners, and the baton had to be carried by the runner for their leg, some teams chose to change over up on the hill, others to rendezvous at a vehicle located on an accessible road. It was the teamโs decision how they managed this, and ultimately what would lead to a faster time. The weather was, mainly, kind to the runners with the occasional squally shower passing through, but that just encouraged a bit of a faster pace. The last few miles were a sprint downhill to the ever-hospitable welcome by the Hotfooters at Outdoors at Hay, but even this last stretch showed a wide variety in route choices. Teams have to choose their routes according to the skills and abilities of their members, so thereโs much more to this challenge than just rocking up to the start line and heading off with the pack. Everyone (including the marshals) returned safely from the hill, tired but excited. Enthusiastic chatter about route choices continued over a cuppa and cake, with some teams already planning how to amend and improve for next year! This promises to be something of a must-do event in the race calendar.
The winning teams were:
CDF Runners (team of 5) in a time of 05:03:55
Builth & District (team of 10) in a time of 05:51:55 (yes, that is the right way round, the team of 5 were quicker!)
The fastest team did 52.75km and the final team home did 58.14km, we donโt have the teams elevations which will have had a big impact on times.
Well done to all of the teams who took part and thank you for putting your trust in our new event. When planning something new, its always a risk, will people be interested, will it work, but what we saw on Saturday was a resounding success and we hope to see even more teams take on the Black Mountains Relay Challenge in 2026, but what will be the route?
Hereโs the route taken by the fastest team, a selection of photos and the final times,
Off The Tarmac Croft Ambrey Running Club Builth & District Running Club Malvern Buzzards Running Club MonRoss-Trailblazers Running Club Fairwater-Runners-Cwmbran
