we Are The Champions My Friends.

The Hilly 100 was first run in 1986. There were just 2 teams entered – The Leopards and The Tigers – both from SAC, so guess what,  we won! 

Longstanding club member Allan Coldicott helped set up that first race, alongside John Dell who was chairman at the time.

This truly iconic and unique race has only had minor tweaks over the past 40 years, to improve the safety of the runners, with the overall route being largely unchanged. 

As the name suggests, there are a number of undulations throughout the route!

The course record is held by Massey Ferguson Running Club, who in 1989 ran a combined overall time of 9:24.

 Following the first running of the race, we then had to wait 37 years until winning the event in 2023 but last Sunday, somewhat fitting as the race entered its 5th decade, saw us triumphant again after just a 3 year wait. 

The winning time  on Sunday was 10:38.20, with our winning time in 1986 being 11hrs 5, so those lightweight shoes really do make a difference!

Below is Mark Barker’s superlative report on this years’ race.

For the full results please follow the link below. Times and splits for our superheroes are at the foot of the newsletter.

https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=18

Hilly 100

Report – Mark Barker

Last Sunday saw the return of what is, for many of us, the highlight of the club calendar – the Cotswold Hilly 100 Relay.

Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, this iconic event once again delivered everything we’ve come to love: teamwork, challenge, camaraderie and, of course, lots and lots of hills!

For those less familiar, the Hilly 100 is a 100-mile road relay split into 10 legs of roughly 10 miles, winding its way along the scenic and hilly lanes of the Cotswolds. With staggered start times from 5am, finishing back at the club in the late afternoon.

This year, the weather was certainly on our side. After the hot days leading in, the temperature dropped nicely for race day, providing near-perfect conditions for running across the 100 miles.

As always, it was an early alarm call for many, with some runners, support crews and marshals setting off from 4:30am to get into position for those crucial opening legs.

From the first runners leaving the American Fountain through to the final charge home on leg 10, it was a fantastic day.

We had a brilliant turnout from the club, fielding three mixed teams alongside our super-fast men’s team.

Against a strong field of 40 teams from local running clubs, competition was fierce across all categories.

Huge congratulations go to our men’s team, who delivered a superb performance to take the win, our first victory in four years.

The team stormed home in an outstanding time of 10:38:20, finishing with an almost nine-minute lead over second place Spa Striders. 

Our mixed teams also did us incredibly proud in a competitive field of 24 teams.

Team “Much Ado” led the charge with an excellent 4th place finish in 12:11:14, team “All’s Well” produced a strong and consistent run to finish 10th in 14:22:18, while team “As You Like It” were not far behind, securing 13th place with a time of 14:45:32.

A notable change this year was the introduction of GPS tracking as the relay baton. This allowed teammates and supporters to follow progress live throughout the day, made handovers easier to anticipate and, perhaps most importantly, ensured no shortcuts were being taken!   It added a brilliant new dimension to the event and helped keep everyone connected to the race, wherever they were on the course, at home or in the pub!

There were also plenty of comical moments along the way. Team managers and marshals found themselves guessing the same post-leg comments as runners came in, with almost everyone convinced their leg had been the hilliest, longest and hardest. By the end of the day it felt safe to say that every leg had somehow earned that title!

Pip Bell didn’t get off to the smoothest start on leg 9, forgetting her race number and sending her partner Nev racing back home on his motorbike to retrieve it, only for him to return just as Owen Lewis came into view on leg 8 approaching the changeover.

Nigel Chidgey, in contrast, had everything meticulously planned, right down to precisely where his water bottles would be placed.

Elsewhere, support on the course took many forms. I had the job of pacing along in the car handing out jelly babies to Lisa Stevens and Fiona Penson as they tackled leg 3, while Emma Vickers enjoyed what she described as a “royal” experience at one point, with no fewer than three support cars following her along the route.

One of the defining features of the Hilly 100 is the club spirit, and once again Stratford AC were out in force. Members marshalled all the changeover points, teams supported one another across the entire route, and there was a constant flow of encouragement as people leapfrogged between legs.

A huge thank you goes to our team managers, Sarah Gillard and Pete Sugden who were out on the course supporting runners and providing refreshments from 5am right through to the finish.

Special recognition must also go to our amazing Race Director Hannah, whose dedication behind the scenes made the event possible. After spending countless hours preparing and checking the course, Hannah was out from the early hours of Sunday morning and was one of the last to leave the club on Sunday evening, an incredible effort and hugely appreciated by everyone.

The day concluded back at Stratford Sports Club where runners, supporters from all the clubs came together for drinks, a BBQ and to cheer home the leg 10 runners.

As always, the finish area was full of stories from the day, with everyone comparing notes and debating which leg was the toughest!

The Cotswold Hilly 100 continues to be much more than just a race. It is a true team event that brings our club together.  The course is tough, and many of our long standing members who have run multiple legs over the years will all agree, every single one has its own sting in the tail.

Well done to everyone who took part, supported, marshalled and organised such a brilliant event. It was a fantastic advert for the club, made special by the people involved, and hopefully we can come back even stronger next year with even more teams on the start line.