Welcome to the Hallam Chase


Entries for the 2025 event open are now open


Event Date: 27th May 2025. Time 7.30 pm


You can enter the Hallam Chase through the Fabian4 website via this link.


Be honest with your race times. If you put down a Parkrun time please put down the time you would have run if you RACED. Please don't use social run times- they don't help us and they don't help with the handicap.


If you fancy taking part you just need to be a member of a SYCAA club. Most are not expensive and are a welcoming bunch. Entries open in April 2025 for the next event, which is Tuesday, May 27th at 7:30 pm

Each year we are supported by Taylor Emmet Solicitors- we thank them for their longterm encouragement and financial generosity.


This year we also received extremely useful giveaways from Ultimate Directions and The Outside Store in Hathersage. Let's say they went down a storm with the runners as spot prizes.


A Bit of History


The oldest continuously run Fell Race in the world with a rich history, going back to 1862. Put on on behalf of Hallamshire Harriers, it has a wealth of Sheffield running heritage. A few years have been missed due the two world wars, Foot and Mouth Disease and more recently COVID so we think it has now been run 148 times (as 2022) - please correct us if this is wrong.

The event is held at 8pm on the Tuesday evening following the second May Bank Holiday every year. As a closed race, it is only open to members of South Yorkshire running clubs. This means the entry list is typically low, with 50-80 runners each year.

The route has changed a little over time and started as a 10mile loop. It has been the current route for many years - a 3.25 mile out and back from The Hallam Cricket Ground to the entrance to Stannington Church. You are either descending or climbing, with almost no flat running. Under foot it is mainly on grass field paths or tracks, with some sections on roads to connect the route.

Here is a map of the route

Here is a close up of the route at the bottom of the valley as it crosses the Rivelin Valley

The run crosses lots of roads, so this, combined with the rough terrain, limits the entrants to adults (18+yo).

To make the challenge more interesting, the event is handicapped with the slowest runner off first at 8pm and the fastest runner off last, some 15-20 minutes later. The idea is that all runners finish together. For many years our handicapper, John Spencer, has honed his talents to try and place runners in the correct start order, based on their recent performance in other recent races such as the Trunce, the South Yorkshire Road League, Park Runs and local fell race times. It is an impossible job to do perfectly, so there is always the odd runners how performs better or worse than expected but this means the winner is almost always new and it could be anyone! The competetion to get your name on a trophy is palpable. Many a potential winner has been pipped to the line, inside the final 100m, as more and more runners re-enter the Cricket Ground together.

The event would not be possible without a mini army of 40+ marshals! We have to thank each and every person who volunteers - many have competed in the race themselves in the past and are old friends - part to the Hallam Chase family