Yes, the team at Breaking Strain are available to answer your questions by

• Phone: 07568 563061 
• WhatsApp: 07568 563061
• Email: events@breakingstrain.co.uk

To coin a Ted Lasso-ism: "We don't not care. We care very much. We care about who you are and what you must've been going through. Yeah? But hey, from now on, you don't have to go through it all by yourself".

Ultimately everyone's welcome at our races provided people treat each other as they'd want to be treated themselves and we look after each other out on the trails.

If you've been to our headline event, Run the Blades, you'll know that the community is incredibly supportive, kind and welcoming - whilst we've driven some of this by how my team of staff and volunteers naturally interact with the runners, it's about the group of runners themselves who have built that.

• LGBTQ+ : Ultimately as Ted says, we don't care. Love who you love. Be who you want to be. Not sure why it would matter to us when you're entering a race. Frankly the fact that this needs to be written in 2025 is fucking ridiculous.
• Non-binary: We've had non-binary on our race entry forms since 2017. We're not asking anyone to polarise between deciding to put male or female when you sign up for the race. To date at Run the Blades we've not provided a trophy for non-binary runners as we only ever get a maximum of 2-3 runners per year across the three races. This isn't about excluding non-binary from the podium, it's just with those numbers, the non-binary category isn't currently a race, as everyone would get a trophy for finishing. I hope this changes in the future and that Run the Borders is open enough for those who identify as non-binary to come forward and feel included.
• Disability: Where we can, we'll make reasonable adjustments to allow you to enter our events/treks. We have had visually impaired runners, runners with cerebral palsy and MS, someone in a wheelchair do the 10K at Run the Blades for four years and we've taken a quadruple amputee to the summit of Kilimanjaro. If you're a carer for someone with a disability and they need a guide runner with them, we'll give the guide runner a free entry (and a medal and a goody bag - you're not surplus to requirements at the end of the race).
• Female athletes: You make up over 50% of our race attendees so not looking after you is a terrible business model (apart from everything else)! We don't operate a time sweeper system at our headline event, Run the Blades, as historically/typically it penalised females at races. Whilst we've had to put cut offs for Run the Borders these are pretty generous at 5KPH - they also consistently follow the mileage so the cut offs to the first checkpoints aren't shorter than those later in the race. We all have different race strategies - run your own race.  At all our events we provide period products in the Event Village and at checkpoints and will have designated female changing space within the Event Village. If you get pregnant after you've entered the race (or if you sign up postpartum, but your training hasn't gone quite to plan), we'll defer your entry for two years (or you can receive a refund if that's a better option for you).We'll also give partners (in whatever form they are), a one year deferral if your partner has just given birth or you're near the due date.
• Prize money: We operate an equal prize pot for male and female athletes. Can't see a reason why we wouldn't.
• Fitness levels: We offer a range of distances, the ability to walk or run and to take part in a relay to hopefully make the event accessible for almost everyone.
• Socio-economic: The world has gone to shit with the cost of living crisis impacting the amount of transferable cash available to families. If you're struggling financially, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do to allow you to race.

We try to get stuff right but sometimes you don't know what you don't know until something happens (to be fair, there's probably stuff in the paragraphs above that I've not got right). If you think we should be doing something that we're not doing, let me know. I've just never felt that we needed to advertise our inclusivity stance as everyone's welcome and it's always been that way for us - it's just not even a discussion point (which I realise puts me in a privileged position). 

Lee (Owner & Race Director)

No woman should be penalised for being pregnant! If you become pregnant after signing up (or if you sign up postpartum but your training hasn't gone quite to plan), we'll defer your entry for two years (or you can receive a refund if that's a better option for you).

We'll also give partners (in whatever form they are), a one year deferral if your partner has just given birth or you're near the due date.

Just drop us a line.

Yes, we can offer bundles of any number of tickets. 

If you are a charity fundraiser/manager/director/head (too many titles), drop us an email at events@breakingstrain.co.uk. Once we've had a chat we'll send you a list of discount codes which will be assigned to your particular charity.

At the end of each month we'll check which codes have been used and we'll send you an invoice. No up front payments. No stress in having to find participants to offset wasted charity money. Charged at the face value of the ticket. There won’t be a ‘charity tax’ where charities have to pay through the nose to guarantee their entry. We like to support charities, not shaft them. It’s a terrible business model and unethical as hell.

Absolutely. Breaking Strain was conceived on the back of a long history of charity fundraising and to-date our events and treks have raised £2.5 million for the causes they've supported. 

Some charities have discount codes that gives free entries to runners in lieu of meeting a minimum fundraising amount. Drop us an email to events@breakingstrain.co.uk or a WhatsApp to 07568 563061 if you have any questions.

The trail follows the Borders Abbeys Way which is a circular loop of the central Scottish Borders linking the four ruined abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh and continuing on to Hawick and Selkirk before returning to Melrose. Our race follows the route in a clockwise direction.

The route is waymarked with fixed finger posts and we will supplement these with our normal black and yellow signage. The route has approximately 50% tarmac (quiet country roads, paths and pavements) with the remainder being river bank, farm tracks, trails and hills and follows public rights of way. 

These are the checkpoint locations:

• Melrose – start
• Dryburgh – 7.5K
• Manorhill  – 17.5K
• Borders Ice Rink, Kelso – 27.1K
• Nisbet Bridge – 42.3K
• Jedburgh (Town Hall) – 50.3K
• Denholm (Village Hall) – 62.98K
• Hawick (Hawick YM) – 69.8K
• Drinkstone - 75K
• Salenside (Grid Ref: 4641 2108) – 80.4K
• Hartwoodmyres (Buccleuch) – 85K
• Selkirk – 90.7K
• Cauldshiels Loch (Grid Ref: 5094 3246) – 99K
• Melrose  – finish

The relay splits are as follows:

• Leg 1: Melrose – Kelso - 27.1K (approximately). Total distance; 27.1K
• Leg 2: Kelso - Jedburgh - 22.6K (approximately). Total distance; 50.3K
• Leg 3: Jedburgh - Hawick - 19.5K (approximately). Total distance; 69.8K
• Leg 4: Hawick - Melrose - 39.2K (approximately). Total distance: 109K

• Signage: The route will be very well signed so it's unlikely that you could come off route but if you do, give the Race Director a call and we'll direct you back onto the route.
• Checkpoints: There are 12 checkpoints on the main 109K loop (four on the 50K) and we mark all runners through the checkpoint and double check with the GPS trackers (see below).
• GPS tracker: All participants will be provided with a GPS tracker so friends/family can monitor progress. This also allows us to identify where you are on the route in relation to checkpoints, the front/back of the field etc.
• Sweeper: We will have a sweeper back marking the route.
• First Aid: We will have first aiders at each checkpoint, within the Event Village and mobile in vehicles for the duration of the event.

All entrants to the 109K have the option to have a support crew who can meet you out on the route. They can meet you at the following.

• Border Ice Rink, Kelso
• Jedburgh Town Hall
• Denholm Village Hall
• Hawick YM building
• Selkirk (West Port car park)

• The section between Hawick and Selkirk is relatively high and exposed. For
  that reason we’ve added two extra checkpoints on Drinkstone Hill and at Hartwoodmyres as the route turns right off the road and into the forestry.
• These checkpoints, and those at Salenside and Cauldshiels Loch will consist
  of cars and two crew. Our crew will be wearing high vis so you can identify them.
• For those who will finish the race by running in darkness from the higher ground after Hawick, you can be accompanied for your own safety.
• If using a support runner, this runner can't leave their car anywhere on the Stirches Road coming out of Hawick as the road is too narrow.
• Please take your time when running with your headtorch and be aware ofrough underfoot conditions.

A lot of the route is accessible via vehicle. If you are driving out to see your runner or to support in general, please drive and park responsibly. By parking poorly and alienating the local communities that the route passes through, it'll make a year two event more difficult.

We're working hard with stakeholders including the Scottish Borders Council and Police Scotland to reduce the negative impact of holding the event.

We would never cancel an event unless participant safety was significantly compromised. However, bad things occasionally happen. In the event that we are forced to cancel an event we definitely don't win financially when this happens - we've already potentially spent tens of thousands of pounds on medals, water, first aid provision, marquees, portaloos, barriers, signs, staff, vehicles, branding, good bags, liaison with local authorities/ emergency services, shuttle buses etc.

We take your safety incredibly seriously. The majority of the team have backgrounds in the emergency services/military and we recognise when we're told to restrict an activity for certain reasons that they don't do so lightly.

In the first instance, we'll speak with stakeholder and will come up with a new date (probably the next year). At this point all entrants will be transferred to the new date. If this date doesn't suit, you'd receive a full refund or the option to transfer to one of our other events eg. Run the Blades.

We regret that we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations  is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss as a result of “force majeure”.  Force majeure means any event which we as the Organiser or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control.

Drop bags are your little bags of joy that you can leave at selected checkpoints so you don't have to carry everything. Drop bags should be small bags (think large food bags) that include only disposable items (food, drink etc) as we can't be responsible for any valuables/clothing left behind.

At registration we'll have an area set aside for you to leave your drop bags for the respective checkpoints. Drop bags can be left at every checkpoint on the route.

The checkpoint teams will then transport your drop bags to the checkpoint in advance of you arriving there.

Drop bag locations:

Checkpoint 2: Manorhill(17.5K)

Checkpoint 3: Kelso (27.1K)

Checkpoint 5: Jedburgh Town Hall (50.3K)

Checkpoint 7 (109K race only): Hawick (69.8K)

Checkpoint 11: (109K race  only): (90.7K)