A gentle amble along the Shropshire Way?

Click to enlarge! See more detail 0f the 80k

2500 mtrs of ascent

Smiling optimism at the start

Smiles of relief at the finish

Good views of Shropshire Hills

3 men on a horse? Not allowed

Glorious Sunset – only 4 hours to go in the dark. Good job they had head torches (or in 1 case, a mobile phone light)

The Christmas Challenge

A group of 4 local 'lads' decided last Christmas – possibly alcohol fueled – that they would enter the Shropshire Way 80k (50 miles!) in April.

They were already part of a small group (met through their children) and regularly ran/cycled/played football together.

They are Kev Cornshey, Sam Jones, Phil Simon and Sean Rayne. Only the first 3 actually completed the challenge – Sean, after nearly all of the training, allegedly threw a rock on his knee and had to stand down!

The weather on the day (in April) started very icy cold, but was a glorious sunny one. They started at 0800 and finished at approximately 2300, coming in a very respectable 65th out of 250 entrants.

That's an average speed of just over 3mph, with some 2500 metres of ascent/decent, starting and finishing at Craven Arms.

After finishing "never again" was apparently muttered, but already the pain memory seems to have passed, and next year's run is on the calendar!