Green Belt Relay · 2025

Report

29 May

As a club, we are privileged to have several iconic events within our immediate locality that we can partake in; London marathon, Parliament Hill, Surrey XC and Road league, plus numerous closed-road halfs, to name but a few.

Yet shining brightly in the middle of our fixtures list is a little known (to the non-running world that is) event, a race that brings together many like-minded indviduals from clubs across South West London, and a bit beyond; the Green Belt Relay.

For those who have yet to take part, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the magnitude of this special event. Some might say it’s awesome, others say it’s brutal, still others will say it’s insane, but all who have participated will agree; it’s one of the best racing weekends in any club’s calendar.

On paper, it’s a two-day, 22-stage relay race, covering 220 miles of the Green Belt Way around our great capital. In reality, it’s more than just a race; it brings together the best of what makes our sport amazing: passion, community and joy. Plus a healthy dose of disco, taking place as it usually does on the same weekend as the Eurovision Song contest.

Brilliantly organised by Peter & Alex Kennedy, supported by the Stragglers Running Club and other committed individuals, this not-for-profit event starts at Hampton Court and over an exhilarating weekend, sees teams race their way through Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent, before finshing at the Bushy Park Sports Centre.

During the two days, runners cover miles & miles of footpaths, towpaths and roads, through towns, villages, fields, underpasses, bogs and hills, encompassing distances varying in distance and difficulty; with the longest just over a half marathon, and the shortest 6 miles.

As per last year, four teams - in five vans - made up Ranelagh’s 2025 charge: The Rapids (Men/Open), The Roses (Women), The Golds (Vets) and The Rebels (Mixed), with club representation from across all ability levels. They were supported in their water & marshalling duties by Pete & Narissa Vox, who’d taken the ‘disco vibe’ to the n-th level; Pete proving that some things - eg: a grown man disco dancing in hot pants - once seen, aren’t quite as easy to unsee.

The ever mammoth and challenging task of planning went right up to the wire, but team captains Rebecca Bissell and Jonny Smith, with help from Clare Fowler, Carol Aiken and David Ready, responded strongly. Saturday dawned to the cheers of clubs seeing off their Stage 1 runners from Hampton Court before, in scenes reminiscent of the Great Race, dashing off to their respective duties; to drop off, pick up, cheer or marshal as required.

We hear from Team Captain, Jonny Smith, explaining just what GBR means to him:

Within three seconds of the minibus pulling into Hampton Court car park, there was a knock on the window. "Home-made rocky road and sausage rolls for Bus D," announced Simon (Martin), handing over the plastic tubs. A sentence which, if you heard it at any other time of the year, would unmistakeably remind you of GBR.

GBR is unique. On paper it sounds rubbish. Spend an entire weekend crammed into a minibus, driving on or around the M25, waiting all day to watch other people race for about 30 seconds, and overnighting in a retail park Travelodge in Basildon. So why do so many of us see it as the highlight of the running calendar and get excited months out?

For me, it's because it's the ultimate team competition. It's not just the fact that, at the speedier end, the club vies for mens, women's and vets titles. It's because this is one of those rare weekends when everyone comes together.

When else do you get Advanced 1 and Intermediate 3 runners comparing race maps and watching YouYube videos together? How often do you get club members giving up, not just a couple of hours to marshal, but their entire weekend to drive everyone around and get them in the right place at the right time?

After falling ill during GBR 2024, the worst thing aside from letting everyone down, was knowing I'd missed out on "the GBR feeling".

To be able to spend a weekend with your friends doing what everyone loves, racing together and for each other, relaxing in the sunshine, walking through a meadow to a stage finish with the smell of spring in the air, seeing parts of the country you would never otherwise see, stuffing your face with cakes until you feel sick, getting to know people in the club who you don't know, before celebrating with everyone on a warm Sunday evening with a cold cider.

If I could bottle that feeling and sell it, I'd turn down a fortune and keep all the bottles for myself.

Hear hear Jonny love.

The Rapids were on a mission to take back the Green Belt, to prove that their 2023 victory (Ranelagh’s first GBR victory in over 21 years) was not a one-off. In 2024, they’d come oh-so-close to repeating this success, but had to settle instead for 1st men’s team.

The Roses were focussed on improving last year’s 2nd women’s team standing; while The Golds were seeking to retain their V35+ vets team status. The Rebels were also quietly, in their own way, racing to the best of their abilities. Across all teams, there was all to play for.

At the close of Day 1, it was clear that the Rapids meant business; with stage wins from Marc Leyshon (1), Peter Robins (5), Eirin McDaid (6 & course record), Jimmy Whistler (7), Joe Killip (8) and Jonathan Smith (10), plus solid podium finishes from the rest, helping to carve out a slender 6+ min lead over the mighty Clapham Chasers and Thames Hare & Hounds.

The Roses meanwhile built a healthy lead over Clapham Chasers’ women’s team, a respectable 1hr 25min; boosted not just by stage wins from Lizzie Broughton (2) and Sarah Palmer (5), but also by the amazing effort of the entire team.

The Golds were also battling it out with Serpentine; repeating their 2024 back-and-forth tussle with just 14 mins separating the two by the end of Day 1, while the Rebels were enjoying every single minute of their Green Belt, with admirable running from all.

Next is Chris Wyatt, on his first GBR experience:

Having attended a few Stragglers events over the years, I was aware of the GBR, and it was an event I’d wanted to participate in for some time, but never managed to persuade enough of my friends to form a team. So, after joining Ranelagh just over a year ago, I seized the opportunity to take part as soon as it arose.

As a club newbie, I was not sure how I would be accepted and what would be expected of me for the weekend, but all apprehension was quashed as soon as I entered the Hampton Court Car Park, where I was instantly welcomed and reassured to ‘just run and have a good time’.

Although I was a little concerned, upon learning about the ‘legendary snoring’ of Gavin (Hillhouse), with whom I was due to share a room.

With my stage not due to start until 3pm I had a few hours of ‘bus life’ ahead. Hopping out to cheer on, drop off, pick up, drink, eat snacks, repair wounds, check result updates and chat!

The logistical organisation throughout the weekend was excellent, which meant I just had to worry about my running. Although keeping an eye on the time is required, especially during a laid-back coffee break, a crisis averted in this instance by some ‘motivated’ driving to stage 7.

My stage was hot, long, and challenging, but I didn’t get lost, my knees held out and even managed to appreciate some lovely countryside running. What’s more, I was greeted at the finish with the now infamous ‘Ranelagh Disco water station’ and plenty of club support to lift my spirits.

This was followed by a well-earned pint at the gorgeous High Beech stage to finish the day (for me at least).

On next to the much-talked-about ‘BAZ VEGAS’ overnight stay experience! Far too much to mention here, so I’ll summarise with: sequins and sparkles, key card chaos, Eurovision, ‘what time is your bus leaving’, boy racers, ‘another glass of red please’, late night eating, crazy costumes, and ‘my legs are sore’.

Thanks Chris - more from him in a bit.

Indeed, at the end of Day 1, the Hollywood-like sign of Basildon brought cheer to many; with all the creature comforts of BazVegas (aka Basildon Festival Hall Travelodge) to look forward to. Following a convivial dinner, and despite the distraction of Eurovision, almost all were in bed promptly, ready to rise and shine to take on Day 2.

For those unlucky enough to draw the early-morning short straw, it felt very much like the morning after the most epic night before; although never underestimate the power of instant coffee, McMuffins, jelly babies and day-old baked goods to put that which was wrong, right.

Luck, however, was not on our side; Mike Morris had taken a tumble the day before, resulting in a painful injury, meaning one of the Golds would have to double up and run two stages. Repeating his mammoth 2024 efforts, Jonathan Moore ‘willingly’ took up that mantle, and the stage allocations - as well as the driving rotas - were juggled to allow for his maximum recovery.

GBR Day 2 is like a weird Twilight Zone/Black Mirror episode; absolutely everyone is shattered, no one has recovered in any shape, way or form and all are running on tired legs. Yet everyone is raring to go, fuelled by the fact that there’s only that day’s stage left to run, with each one completed bringing the team closer to the finish.

As a result there’s a slight communal mania in air; reflected by the many WhatsApp group chat pings sharing info, pics & videos about starts, finishes, beer, foam rollers, hamstrings, the Dartford Crossing, marshal points, disco dancing and much more.

We go back to Chris:

Fuelled by a McDonalds breakfast and the aroma of Tiger Balm in our nostrils, we set off for Day 2. More cheering, negotiating numerous roundabouts and mending wing mirrors (good work Eirin), there was marshalling to be done.

It was good to be reminded that these events are not just about the races, but helping, supporting and managing is an essential part to an enjoyable and safe event. There is a skill to traffic management and handing out cups of water, I discovered, and I only had two failures. My apologies therefore to Graham and Sarah.

I was grateful for a shorter and mostly downhill stage on Sunday. And thankful that my legs made it (mostly). It was nice to see so much Ranelagh support again and to hear how well our teams were doing was fantastic.

The leaderboards indeed showed that the Rapids were living up to their moniker; and with 3 more stage wins by Peter Robins (14), David Ready (15) and Ross Macdonald (21), as well as outstanding performances from the entire team, surely they’d done enough to seal the win.

So too the Roses, confidently building on their Day 1 lead, boosted by even more solid running from everyone, especially Edel McKeever’s Stage 20 win; so much so that by Stage 21 they were a clear 2hr 27mins ahead of Clapham Chasers.

The battle for the Walking Stick however was less clear cut. Serpies’ much younger vets were out in force, and Day 2 was an agonising calculation of accumulated minutes see-sawing in their favour or ours as the stages counted down. The Golds were determined to fight to the end though, as showcased by the category wins nabbed by Jonathan Moore (13 & 22), Ed Smith (14) & Malcolm Davies (20)

Ultimately the lag in the leaderboards updating meant that nothing could be taken for granted and so, as with all Green Belts, it was down to the wire as we headed into the final 6 stages.

Stage 22, starting at Walton Bridge and ending at Bushy Park Sports Centre, represents the final leg of the Green Belt. Licencing issues meant that 2025’s course was longer, an extra 1.5 miles to make it 8.1 miles of flat-out running. For teams at the sharp end, it’s traditionally a slug-fest of their tallest, lankiest, leanest and fastest, lightest-of-vest-wearing, carbon-shoed athletes. This year was no different.

Minutes before the start, the leaderboards finally updated - until then the online results had been permanantly stuck at the end of Stage 16, indicating the Rapids were ahead of Thames by 9mins 27s; The Golds (5th overall!) were an achievable 30mins behind Serpies, and the Roses were comfortably ahead of Clapham by just under 2hrs.

But SO MUCH had happened in the last 5 stages. Our chosen tall, lanky, lean, lightest-of-vest-wearing, carbon-shoed athlete for Stage 22 was Ed Perry, who later confided that while he knew there was a lead, he wasn’t 100% sure how strong that lead was. So was priming himself for an all guns blazing run against Thames and Clapham.

Much to his relief, the updated leaderboards showed the Rapids were a secure 14mins 24s ahead of Clapham, and that the Roses had built an even greater lead over Clapham (2hrs 29mins), meaning that both Ed and Sarah Palmer, were able to enjoy their glory leg run to finish. And deliver effortless roly polys at the end of it.

Sadly for the Golds however, despite everyone’s hard work, Serpies retained their too-strong to overcome 30min lead. This year’s Walking Stick was not meant to be.

And so on to the finish at Bushy Park Sports Centre, where many a tired, but jubilant and exhilarated Ranelagh face, gathered to await our Stage 22 finishers; to herald the end of GBR 2025.

We have this final bit from Chris:

The festival-like atmosphere at the finish line was fantastic! Hanging out with happy, exhausted runners and helpers mingling and chatting with a drink in hand on a warm Sunday evening was just glorious.

With wins for both the Women’s and Men’s teams, there was no better way to finish such an EPIC weekend! The Green Belt Relay embodies everything you want from being part of a running club. I can’t wait until next year!

P.S. Gavin, your snoring wasn’t that bad.

The entire weekend was testament to everyone’s collective efforts to come together as a club, for their respective teams, and for each other. Thank you to all involved for the incredible support; especially the team captains, the brilliant drivers & navigators, and event supporters, including Andy Bickerstaff and Tom Reay.

Congratulations to the Rapids on winning the Green Belt and the 1st mens/open team category; to the Roses for winning 1st womens team and the Queen of the Mountains prize; and the Golds for placing 2nd in the V35+ vets team category. Shout out too to the non-racing Rebels - who still ran their hearts out - for their support and encouragement throughout.

We end with a summary from Rebecca Bissell, GBR 2025 team captain and organiser extraordinaire:

Being relatively new to the GBR it still feels a bit like a cross between the game Risk and Race Across the World, if the world is the M25. Planning and logistics are key and critical to ensuring everyone gets to their stage safely and on time.

I love the team spirit and excitement as we all pile into vans, navigating our way to the next marshalling point or just to cheer our runners setting off and/or finishing.

As Ranelagh has been doing GBR for some time and had 44 runners, we did get a few additional marshalling duties to carry out this year which was an added dimension to the planning. A big thank you to Narissa and Pete who were at ¾ of the marshalling stops – this was a massive help to us all.

This of course wouldn’t be possible without our wonderful drivers who not only drive over the weekend, but also have to pick up and drop off one of our 5 vans on Friday and Monday in their own time.

Thanks to Maia Rushby, Clare Fowler and Gavin Hillhouse who drove all weekend and to our running drivers, Dave Lawley, Jimmy Whistler, Alex Ring, Ed Smith, Andrew Mclauchlan, Ted Mockett, Mike Morris, Mark Herbert, Simon Martin and Mike Thomas.

Peter Kennedy (GBR Race Director) and his team were amazing all weekend, keeping us updated on any course issues, general information and café advice. Thank you to everyone who marshalled and updated me with your locations and photos. This is really important for Peter and the team to know marshals are in place, especially road crossings, otherwise they have to come out and do it themselves.

For me this collaboration across clubs, all playing our part to provide water, directions and safe road crossings is what makes the GBR so special and unique. And you get to do it 2 days on the trot!

As one of the team organisers, I was most excited that we had 9 runners new to GBR (some relatively new to Ranelagh too) and to the best of my knowledge, all had an amazing experience and want to come back next year. It’s not all about the winning, but there were many very well deserved stage and category wins from our runners - this made me very happy.

Peter has tentatively set the 16-17 May for GBR 2026, so save the date!

Race report by Narissa Vox, with contributions by
Jonny Smith, Chris Wyatt & Rebecca Bissell
Image credits: Stephen Hird & Team GBR 2025

GBR 2025 Stages

1 Hampton Court Palace > Staines | 12.7 miles | Marc Leyshon, Ed Smith, Edel McKeever & Paula Maguire
2 Staines > Boveney Church | 9.42 miles | Nick Twomey, Mark Herbert, Lizzie Broughton & Carol Aikin
3 Boveney > Little Marlow | 11.2 miles | David Ready, Malcolm Davies, Natalie Haarer & Rachel Revett
4 Little Marlow > Great Kingshill | 11.2 miles | Ross Macdonald, Jonathan Moore, Suzy Whatmough & Andrew Mclauchlan
5 Great Kingshill > Chipperfield | 11.5 miles | Peter Robins, Mike Morris, Sarah Palmer & James Ritchie
6 Chipperfield > St Albans | 8.5 miles | Eirin McDaid, Alex Ring, Claire Warner & Ann Kearey
7 St Albans > Letty Green | 11.6 miles | James Whistler, Matt Hirschler, Aoife Kilpatrick & Chris Wyatt
8 Letty’s Green > Dobb’s Weir | 10.7 miles | Joe Killip, Neil Rae, Sarah Carnworth & Simon Martin
9 Dobb’s Weir > High Beach | 10.2 miles | Ed Perry, Chris Profitt, Lucy Urbas & Mike Thomas
10 High Beach > Toot Hill | 9 miles | Jonathan Smith, Graham Weller, Rebecca Bissell & Hadi Khatamizadeh
11 Toot Hill > Blackmore | 7.5 miles | Dave Lawley, Ted Mockett, Sarah Cogswell & Vaughan Ramsay
12 Blackmore > Thorndon Park | 10.75 miles | Nick Twomey, Alex Ring, Rebecca Bissell & Rachel Revett
13 Thorndon Park > Cranham | 6.6 miles | James Whistler, Jonathan Moore, Claire Warner & James Ritchie
14 Cranham > Davy Down | 8.2 miles | Peter Robins, Ed Smith, Aoife Kilpatrick & Hadi Khatamizadeh
15 Stone Lodge > Lullingstone | 9.4 miles | David Ready, Neil Rae, Natalie Haarer & Chris Proffitt
16 Lullingstone > Tatsfield | 13.1 miles | Joe Killip, Mark Herbert, Suzy Whatmough & Vaughan Ramsay
17 Tatsfield > Merstham | 10.5 miles | Dave Lawley, Graham Weller, Sarah Cogswell & Ann Kearey
18 Merstham > Burford Bridge | 9.7 miles | Jonathan Smith, Ted Mockett, Lucy Urbas & Simon Martin
19 Burford Bridge > West Hanger | 8.4 miles | Marc Leyshon, Matt Hirschler, Sarah Carnworth & Carol Aikin
20 West Hanger > Ripley | 6 miles | Eirin McDaid, Malcolm Davies, Edel McKeever & Jonathan Moore
21 Ripley > Walton Beach | 8.4 miles | Ross Macdonald, Mike Thomas, Lizzie Broughton & Andrew Maclauchlan
22 Walton Beach > Hawker Centre | 8.1 miles | Ed Perry, Jonathan Moore, Sarah Palmer & Paula Maguire