Saturday 16th May will see our sixth appearance at the Green Belt Relay as we return to the start line at Hampton Court Palace for another weekend of running, navigation and camaraderie! Our previous entries came in 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no race was held in 2021 and 2022).
In this time, we’ve picked up 3 stage wins (Hannah Laing – 2022, James Laing – 2022 and Catriona Paterson – 2024). Last year we finished 37th place (out of 59), collecting 2 category wins courtesy of Zoe Dobbs in the V55 race on stages 11 (category record) and 16.
We’re led once again by Andy Wood, who has ran in all 5 of our previous entries and has already completed nearly half the course stages! This year we’re involved in course marking too, marking the tricky woods section on stage 4. We’ve also introduced our own prize, the Toilet Brush! This is awarded to the team member who wanders furthest off route during their stage. Andy writes:
This will be our 6th GBR and absolutely loved every one of them. Although 10 of our 11 remain from last year, we welcome our 30th participant this year with Nikki Penty-Alvarez joining us. We had no winner of the Toilet Brush last year, but Spencer Harding's recent test of his watch navigation puts him in prime position to take the coveted prize this year
The Green Belt Relay is a not-for-profit annual running relay organised by The Stragglers running club, and all surplus funds from the race are donated to charity (most recently the Marie Curie charity).
The race is a 22-stage running relay around 220 miles of the Green Belt around the outside of London over a single weekend. The course mainly follow footpaths, towpaths or minor roads.
The race takes place in May each year, starting at Hampton Court, Saturday 8.30am and ending in the nearby Bushy Park Sports Centre on Sunday at about 6pm. It is organised by The Stragglers running club, has been going since 1995, and involves around 50 teams. Runners form teams of 11 people, and each runner runs one stage each day. Although the race is a relay, each stage starts at a fixed time. This allows each stage to be a competitive race in its own right, and also allows teams of all different standards to stay roughly together as they advance along the route. To add to the challenge, runners will be required to learn and navigate their routes, although course markings and marshals are provided, it’s best to make sure you know where you’re going!
Deepak will start us off, running 12.7 miles from Hampton Court Palace. Day 1 finishes at Blackmore, with Patrick running stage 11 over 7.5 miles. We then head to Travelodge for a freshen up and a meal out!
Day 2 starts at 8:00am, with Deepak once again getting us underway. This stage starts where we left off on day 1 in Blackmore, with Stage 12 covering 10.7 miles! Bringing the end to our 2026 race will be Patrick, running 7.1 miles from Walton Bridge to Bushy Park Sports Centre!
Check out our highlights from 2025!
Learn more about each stage: Course
Presenting your 2026 line-up!
Day 1
Stage 1 Deepak
Stage 2 Nikki
Stage 3 Adam
Stage 4 Sam
Stage 5 Zoe
Stage 6 Mel
Stage 7 Spencer
Stage 8 Clive
Stage 9 Andy
Stage 10 Alice
Stage 11 Patrick
Day 2
Stage 12 Deepak
Stage 13 Zoe
Stage 14 Sam
Stage 15 Clive
Stage 16 Nikki
Stage 17 Spencer
Stage 18 Mel
Stage 19 Adam
Stage 20 Alice
Stage 21 Andy
Stage 22 Patrick
Green Belt Relay Stages Completed
10: Andy Wood, Sam Hurley & Zoe Dobbs
8: Clive Wickham & John Dobbs
6: Gabe Segall & Karen O’Rourke
4: Adam Laing, Jeremy Cox, Patrick Griffin & Spencer Harding
2: Alice Coburn, Catriona Paterson, Charlotte Wood, Dan Spinks, Dan Thompson, Debbie Brown, Deepak Pandiyarajan, Hannah Laing, Heather Davidson, James Laing, Jen Harvey, John Hughes, Kathryn Carruthers, Kirk O’Rourke, Lyndsey Browne, Mel Spencer, Paul Spencer, Vicky Brownlee
We’ll be bringing you updates from the weekend on our socials over the weekend. If you’re not already following us, check the icons below! Who knows, maybe next year we may have enough interest to enter 2 teams…
