The Hardmoors 55 route, printed

Hardmoors 55 follows the Cleveland Way from Guisborough over Roseberry Topping and the Cleveland Hills to Helmsley, with more than 2,000 metres of climbing on the moors between.

This course leaves Guisborough and makes for Roseberry Topping, the first checkpoint at about six and a half miles, then crosses Easby Moor past Captain Cook's Monument and drops into Kildale. From the village the Cleveland Way goes back up onto the open moor and south to Bloworth Crossing, then west along Urra Moor to Clay Bank, about twenty miles in. Roughly 95 per cent of the race follows the national trail. Most of it is moorland path and track, and the high ground is exposed: the organisers warn that conditions in March can be wintry.

Beyond Clay Bank are the Cleveland Hills, and they are the part of the day people talk about afterwards. The path climbs and drops over Hasty Bank and the Wainstones, then Cold Moor, Cringle Moor and Carlton Bank, each one a steep climb up and a knee-testing descent, before Live Moor and Scarth Wood Moor lead down into Osmotherley at about thirty miles. From there the trail climbs past Black Hambleton onto the Hambleton Drove Road and runs south along the escarpment to Sutton Bank, the one place crews are allowed to meet their runners.

From Sutton Bank a taped detour runs out to the Kilburn White Horse, cut into the hillside in 1857, and back, before the last miles go through Cold Kirby and down past Rievaulx into Helmsley and the finish at the sports club. The race has run in both directions over the years, and the weather has the final say. In 2018, going the other way, the race director stopped runners at Kildale after heavy snow and Cleveland Mountain Rescue walked them the last five miles to Guisborough. This map shows the 2020 race, held in October rather than its usual March.