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What Ben said - a great race, spectacular course, well organised, great fun but very tough. 'Vicious' sums it up - imagine spending 27.5 hrs on a stepper machine at the gym and you get the idea
There are certain similarities between this event and the Lakeland 100.
They both start in the afternoon leaving you with two night sections, and have more than 6000 metres of ascent/descent.
They both have some nightmarish hills on the first night section which slow progress considerably.
In both races you loose so much time on the uphills, that you have to really hammer the downhill’s, with the result that your legs can get kebabbed in the first half.
There are also obvious differences in terms of the terrain type. This race makes the North Downs Way 100, look like an event with a sensible number of steps in it.
I cant say enough good things about the support and organisation of this event. The race director takes the view that if somebody wants to quit then they can do so, but if somebody is struggling but passionately wants to finish the race, he will do what he can to help them. To that extent the course sweepers not only help the stragglers, but even devise tailor made strategies to give them the maximum chance of finishing.
I witnessed some impressive displays of personal courage, including one woman who fell and injured her rib on the first night section. She was in horrible pain for about 24 hours, and it kept getting worse, but she still toughed it out and finished the race.
Although I was an unsupported runner, I received a lot of help from the support crews of other runners, who felt sorry for me.
A lot of things went wrong for me physically and mentally, and it was probably the hardest won race finish that I have ever had. I came in at 34 hours something, and was grateful to avoid the indignity of a DNF.
This is a fantastic race, and I expect it to develop a growing following in coming years.
Yes we'll done everyone! Some fantastic achievements.
Well done Ben sounds epic
Thanks Dill.
I know that you wanted to do something big this year, and you have more than delivered.
I now feel qualified to properly weigh in on the Hardmoors 55 vs Hardmoors 60 debate, having ran both courses by default.
I am going to throw my vote in with those arguing that the Hardmoors 55 is the harder event. Some of those big hills like Carlton bank are very hard going. The kind of terrain where you have to walk the downhill’s because they are too steep to run safely.
I might be biased by the fact that I ran this section at night of course!
My vote goes to the HM60 as being the toughest and the best
I have run the HM55, 60 and 110 
My write up of the HM110
http://blog.trailrunner.org.uk/2013/05/hardmoors-110-my-first-100-miler.html
Thanks for the write up.
Thanks for the writeup Tim. A very good run and time for a first 100. Interested to read in your summary that you are sticking to your guns that this was a one-off and you are returning to faster 3-4 trail runs. Well worth sticking to your guns on this IMHO. After getting around the Lakeland 100 in 2010, because I really wanted to do a 100. I made the mistake of trying to do it again the next year. I DNF'd a bit tamely (with hindsight at 60m), I'd also entered the UTMB, which I DNF'd at a similar distance, though I will say that I don't think I could have got much further in that more savage beast.
I had a year off 100's and then returned to the distance for Hardmoors 110 at the weekend. I set off steady and going well for 40m, but started to seize up on the way down to Kildale, I also got a pain in my knee from guisborough woods onwards. I persisted to Runswick bay, but could barely walk down the hill due to knee. I'd decided a few miles before I was not in much of a state to go on so would exit here. I could perhaps take pills, eat food to pick up energy and dull the pain and keep pushing on stage-by-stage (as mentioned earlier some people pushed on around this one in great pain!), but my desire to push on another 12 hours was gone.
Anyway to tie this up, I have a smiliar feeling about 100's to yourself at the moment, decided its not the distance I enjoy the most and its probably bravado that makes me want to achieve this distance again rather than desire and to a degree, enjoyment. It's a tough distance, but no coincedence I'm starting to think that I've never completed a 2nd 100 in 3 attempts now and the only other distance I've DNF'd at was a very tough 70 where I'd been out ~20 hours so was getting the same kind of pains, loss of desire. Whereas I've done double-figures 50+ milers, where I can run more, never much slower than 13hrs either.
So nice to chat to all and hope to see you at another Hardmoors event or elsewhere, but it won't be at a 100+ for the forseable. Next target for me is the 100k Lakeland Trails ultra, which looks a great route and is a distance and time on feet I can het my teeth into
Just want to add thanks to all involved, friendly competitors, cheerful and super helpful marshalls (special shout to Dave Hetherington at Runswick for his great soup and coffee, whilst I sat their pondering going on), and Jon and organising team. Hate the show, but its true to say this event has an X factor all of its own, which makes any Hardmoors event really memorable and special
I don't think you so much enjoy a 100, as get absorbed by it.
It is certainly not the most enjoyable distance, but when it gets a hold of people, that hold is usually complete!
Funny you say that Ben - I enjoyed the 110 as much as any race I've done for a while. Ok, so it took me 20 miles to get going, and the bit from 87-103 miles was a bit of a drag, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the rest. Just to be out there, me against the course, living the dream
I guess it would be a bit big headed if I wore my Hardmoors t shirt to the local 10k tomorrow.
My race report
Hardmoors 110
Rich a great report and a great run
DEOT thanks for the feedback. It was a tough call for me to walk away from this, it would have been so easy to want to carry on.
I am now looking forward to doing lots of trail/fell running over the summer, just not quite so long for a good while
I have written a race report, which will feature in the next episode of Ultra Tales.
This online magazine can be obtained for a highly competitive price!
I write up of Tim bateson's HM110 from the perspective of his crew and pacers, as a homage to the event itself it is long, not quite a 113 paragraphs but close!
Crewing and pacing at The Hardmoors 110
Great write ups, I'm hoping to attempt it next year just the small matter of the 60 in September first
.