Race Report: Hardwick Hobble 2026

Thanks to Helen Woods for her race report from the Rasselbock Hardwick Hobble 6 mile at Hardwick Hall on 13 June 2026.

I’ve raced most distances and, around the club, I’m probably best known as a marathon runner. One challenge I’d never taken on, though, was an ultra. This year I decided it was finally time to give it a go. I wanted an event that didn’t require navigation or lots of kit, so I settled on the Rasselbock Hardwick Hobble. The format sounded ideal: complete as many 6.03km laps as possible in six hours, and it was only a 30-minute drive away.

It was a much smaller event than the marathons I usually run, with fewer than 200 runners rather than thousands. I arrived early, picked up my number, and got myself organised. I left my drinks and energy chews on the table in the tent so I could grab them easily between laps, then dropped my bag in the bag drop area (that sounds grander than it was basically a sheet on the ground) . It was windy and chilly standing around, but I knew I’d warm up once we got going.

There was a slight delay to the start because cows on the path held up cars getting into the car park, but we were underway shortly after 9am. I hadn’t done any specific training for the event, so I was relying on my marathon training to get me through. My aim was to reach 30 miles, but really I wanted to squeeze in as many laps as I could over the six hours. I worked out that if I averaged nine-minute miles I could get close to 40 miles, although the lap format meant there was never going to be a neat round number.

I can’t lie, I felt very nervous and daunted by the challenge ahead. I had only ever run for just under four hours before, so could I really manage another couple of hours on my feet? Lap 1 didn’t feel quite as easy as it should have, but it worked well as a warm-up and a chance to get to know the course. Three sections stood out as challenging: two stretches of uneven ground, and then the hill towards the end of each lap. As the laps went on, the section through the trees before the hill became harder to run, partly because my legs were tiring and partly because it somehow seemed steeper each time. There were also a few gates to open, which became increasingly annoying towards the end. Most of the route was on trails with firm ground underfoot, and although it warmed up later, the weather was actually ideal for running.

By laps 2 and 3, I was starting to settle into things. I stopped in the tent to refuel and someone struck up a conversation about the Cape Town Marathon because I was wearing the T-shirt, but I was keen to keep moving so I replied briefly and headed back out. I quickly realised that, for some people, the event was a much more relaxed affair. There were runners sitting down between laps, eating cake, and generally taking their time. Some people only did one lap, but at £42 entry, I was determined to get my money’s worth.

Laps 4 and 5 felt good and I was getting into a rhythm. By then I knew where the best places underfoot to run were, where each gate was, which side it opened from, and whether I could just push through or I needed to lift the latch. At the end of lap 5, I changed from my T-shirt into my KADS vest. For the first time ever, I had pinned my race number to my shorts, which made changing my top much easier. Laps 6 and 7 were really about grinding them out.

By lap 8, I’d been running for four hours and, more importantly, had gone beyond marathon distance for the first time ever. I was still moving reasonably well, so I knew I definitely had another lap in me. Lap 9 came and went, although everything was taking longer and I had started to walk slowly up the hill at the end. By lap 10, things were starting to hurt, especially my knees.

​At one point I genuinely wondered whether I was on lap 9 or lap 10 because my brain could no longer make sense of the mileage and lap count. Near the top of the hill, a marshal told me, “You’ve got one more in you — you’ve got 45 minutes.” I wasn’t sure if I did but I figured I could take it very easy. I stopped at the tent one last time to hydrate and grab some sweets, then headed out for what I knew would be my final lap. I walked the hill one last time, then found enough energy to lift the pace on the final stretch to the finish. I rang the bell to signal I was done and collected my medal — a picture of some historical figure, presumably hanging up in Hardwick Hall.

In the end, I needn’t have worried about whether I could do it. The slower pace, along with the chance to stop and refuel, helped me get through 11 laps, which came to 59.87km. Looking at the results afterwards one lap was 5.44km rather than the advertised 6.03km. The time seemed to fly by. It definitely didn’t feel like I’d been running for that long, and although I expected to get fed up of repeating the same lap over and over, that never actually happened.

For the first couple of laps they scanned your QR code on your race number and then after that they were manually recording it.  They sent out an email after to say it was because their scanner had packed in and to let them know if there are any errors.   The official results have me down as completing only 9 laps so I have emailed them with my Strava activity and hopefully it will be sorted. 
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Would I do another ultra? Yes, I would. Next time, I might choose one with a set distance — perhaps 40 or 50 miles — so the focus is more on the distance itself rather than a fixed time limit. That said, my current goal is to complete all of the major marathons, so whether another ultra fits around that remains to be seen. I did have to laugh the next day when I went to pay in Aldi and the card machine asked whether I was able to get around the store with ease. Let’s just say I wasn’t exactly moving with ease — my legs were very sore.