Calderdale Way Relay Race, 2026

It was definitely a big weekend for the Harriers, as 24 club members took part in the 41st Calderdale Way Relay Race. The race is Britain’s biggest off road relay, 50 miles (80.5km) in length, with 12,008ft, (3,660m) of ascent, split into  6 legs, each leg run by a pair of runners. The legs vary in length from 4.8 miles up to 10.55 miles, with varying degrees of terrain and climb. The race starts at Clay House, West Vale, nr Elland. Continuing in an anti-clockwise direction, going south to north. Leg 1 finishes at Crag Vale, leg 2 goes to Centre Vale Park, Todmorden, Leg 3 takes it over to Blackshaw Head. From there, Leg 4 goes over to Wainstalls Road, with Leg 5 finishing in Shelf Hall Park and finally leg 6 goes from the park to the finish at Spring Hall Athletics track, the home of Halifax Harriers.

The Rochdale teams were adjusted several times, to take account of injuries, with the final change to the squad occurring less than 24 hours before the race start. The willingness of the Club members to join the team at short notice, and swap legs / teams to ensure we had a full squad, was greatly appreciated. For some of our athletes, this was their first time doing the trace.

A total of 79 teams took part in this year’s race, with Harriers ‘A’ Team finishing 44th, in a total time of 9hrs, 2m, 10s. Our second team, who were surprisingly close to the ‘A’ team at the end of Leg 1, posted 10hrs, 48m, 37s. The athletes on each leg and their times are shown below:

These were good results for both Harriers teams, when you consider the size of our club. More pictures from the CWR are shown in the gallery below.

Meanwhile, three Harriers went in the opposite direction on Sunday, down the M62 to the beautiful city of Chester. Tazir Ali, Abdul Wadud and Corina Haynes made the journey to run in the Chester City Half Marathon. The race starts inside the race course, passing through the walls into the heart of Chester, before heading out into the Cheshire countryside. After doing a loop, it then heads back to the city, down the famous Northgate Street, finishing outside the town hall and cathedral. Tazir Ali (MV45) was first Harrier, finishing in a time of 1hr, 45m, 21s. Next was Abdul Wadud (MV40), in a time of 1hr, 47m, 43s. With Corina Haynes (FV60) finishing in 2hrs, 14m, 8s.