Mablethorpe RC runners complete Snowdon Ultra Marathon and London Vitality Big Half

Mablethorpe RC's Harlan Woodland is no stranger to ultra marathons.

He began to run half marathons between 2010 and 2015, completed his first marathon in London back in 2015.

He has since developed an appetite for ultras having taken part in more than 20 events.

GB Ultras welcomed 100 ultra-runners (across two events, 47 runners did 50 miles, 53 ran the 100 miles) to the remarkable Snowdonia National Park and the beautiful village of Betws-y-Coed for the third Edition of Snowdon Ultra.

It takes a certain kind of individual to even contemplate running 50 miles but this was combined with 3,700m of ascent over mountainous trails leading to Heather Terrace on Tryfan,

Snowdon Summit, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr, Devil's Kitchen, Llyn Idwal and Pen yr Ole Wen before taking in the fantastic trails beside Llyn Crafnant and Llyn Geirionydd.

From there, runners follow the Snowdonia Slate Trail past Swallow Falls to the foot of the Snowdonia mountains where the legendary Dragons await.

Harlan took it all in his stride finishing what - due to weather conditions and massively undulating terrain - his gps tracking device logged as 44 miles, which gave him seventh position in 11:15.23.

Mablethorpe RC were represented by Sharon Margarson and Elaine Wilson at the London Vitality Big Half.

This event normally happens in March but was postponed due to the pandemic.

London Marathon Events are the driving force behind The London Vitality Big Half, London's community running festival which also aspires to be a celebration of the wonderful cultural diversity of the great city of London.

Along with the standard 13.1-mile Big Half, there's a 2.4-mile Little Half event and several routes of one mile Big Mile options.

More than 20,000 people participated across all events, 17,000 of which were in the 13.1 mile race which starts by Tower Bridge and goes through the four London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich and finishes at the iconic Cutty Sark.

The carnival-like atmosphere was perhaps less so than in previous years for obvious reasons.

The Mablethorpe duo absolutely love this event, it was their fourth year on the bounce having finished in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Sharon was 6247th in 2:08.54s and Elaine finished 7,385th in 2:19.04s.

Mablethorpe RC have restarted their Monday meetings from Sutton on Sea Social Club at 6.30pm.

For details visit www.mablethorperunningclub.org.uk