Saturday saw the running of the mighty Hardmoors 55. Yes, that’s 55 miles! And because that’s not tough enough it has over 7,500 feet of elevation as it follows the Cleveland Way from Guisborough to Helmsley. Technical terrain, a mixed bag of weather and tight time cutoffs all add to making this a truly epic challenge. Ryan Gaughan emerged victorious with an amazing show of endurance. He crossed the finish line, 3rd overall in an astonishing 8 hours 21 minutes, only 10 minutes behind the first finisher. His average speed was just over 9 minutes per mile. Boyd Brad also put in a fantastic performance finishing in 12 hours 2 minutes. To put this in perspective, the slowest finisher took16 hours 43 minutes and over 50 people didn’t manage to finish. Well done Ryan and Boyd.

On the other side of the world, Andrew Bates and wife Chris joined 800 people running the Middle-Earth Halfling Marathon. As the name suggests this half marathon takes runners through the stunningly beautiful setting for the Lord of the Rings films. Andrew and Chris thoroughly enjoyed running through Hobbiton and other areas in the Shire and particularly like the food/water station at The Green Dragon! They finally crossed the finish line in 4 hours.

Shawn Imeson tackled the Sheffield Half Marathon, a popular annual road race with nearly 6,500 competitors. Shawn crossed the finish line in 1 hour 57 minutes placing him well within the top half.

Jessica Chadwick and spaniel Hobbes competed in the Cannock Chase Canicross 10k. It was a first canicross for both Jess and Hobbes and they both found it fun. Despite Hobbes’ inability to run in a straight line they finished 7th overall in 56 minutes 58 seconds.