It was a weekend of interesting events for some runners in Pickering Running Club.
Kim Cavill ran the Enchanted Ultra, a very tough but stunning 50k race with over 5000 feet of climb. It was a low key event with only 50 people attempting the challenge. To add to the difficulty, it was a self navigation race and Kim found herself completely alone after the first 10 miles so there were a few wrong turns. The route took in parts of St Cuthbert’s Way and Pennine Way with some less well used paths and lots of stream crossings. It passed by an ancient hill fort, Yeavering Bell and Hen Hole where faeries are said to lure weary travellers. Fortunately Kim didn’t succumb and had a brilliant run finishing 3rd female and 5th overall in 6 hours 18 minutes. Kim thoroughly enjoyed this well-organised race.

On the other side of the world Simon Tyrrell ran the Six Foot Track Marathon in The Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, Australia. Another tough challenge, the route was just over 27 miles with over 5,500 feet of climb. Simon found the course brutal, possibly the hardest race he’d ever done. It starts with 800 steps and continues with steep ascents and descents over rocky, technical terrain. The race had been scheduled for March but was cancelled due to bad weather. Simon just happened to be on holiday in Australia for the new date but still had to travel over 2,000 miles in 36 hours to get to the start line! Not the best preparation. Despite all the obstacles, Simon was justifiably happy with his excellent time of 6 hours 6 minutes.

Lisa and Chris Adams took on a very different type of marathon challenge. They joined 8,500 crazy people running The Marathon du Medoc which passes through 59 vineyards with 25 wine stops plus some food stops. There was a DJ at mile 25 and some competitors were actually dancing! 32c was hot for running and drinking but Lisa and Chris thoroughly enjoyed the festival atmosphere and, impressively, they made it to the finish line in just over 7 hours.

Suzy Hodgson, Shawn Imeson and Erin Outram ran a much more straightforward race, The Great North Run, although with 60,000 competitors and 200,000 supporters just getting to the start line can be a challenge. All achieved excellent times and crossed the line within 5 minutes of each other with Suzy finishing in 1 hour 57, Shawn in 1 hour 59 and Erin in 2 hours 2 minutes.

Tholthorpe 10k also took place on Sunday. What started as a small local race is now a fixture in the running calendar with over 300 taking part this year. First back for PRC was Richard Robinson in a very speedy 43 minutes 14 seconds, followed by Lucy Saggers in 50 minutes 2 seconds, Serena Partridge in 52 minutes 1 second and Mike Punchard in 64 minutes 16 seconds.

Jessica Chadwick ran a Canicross race with her dog Hobbes. They accidentally ran over 8 miles instead of 4 miles due to a marshal forgetting to direct them onto to right course! They finished in an impressive 1 hour 24 minutes.

Kirsty Brown had fun running in the PeaksGo Scavenger Hunt where groups try to find tokens in the Derbyshire Dales without being caught by the hunters. Sadly, they lost!

Although not running, Bridget Houlston’s amazing achievement deserves a mention. Bridget swam the 11 mile length of Lake Windermere, finishing in 6 hours 16 minutes, to raise money for Level Water which gives disabled children the opportunity to learn to swim. You can support her on her justgiving page.