Five Bere Alston Trekkers (BAT’s) headed to the Newnham Park estate near Plympton for a weekend full of running.

The Hope Trail Festival weekend offers runners the chance to challenge themselves by running a five-mile trail course through woods and meadows on the estate as many times as they can/wish to in a given time period.

Three time periods are on offer from 12 hours, 24 hours or 36 hours. Drawing runners from across the country, the friendly and supportive atmosphere often sees runners exceed their own and other’s expectations.

Lisa Nickel aimed to run three back-to-back marathons in distance and completed a very impressive 80 miles in total. Christie Campbell, who completed her first marathon three weeks ago, notched her first ultra and then some reaching 60 miles. Also reaching 60 miles and a first place in his age category was Paul Martin – and this was despite picking up a knee injury early on.

The furthest travelled was Lisa Birch who completed an amazing 100 miles total. Fiona Watford Maddock was a volunteer at the event but still found time to complete 15 miles around the course.

Fellow Trekker Andy Cowden was in Wales for the Snowdonia/Eryri Trail Festival at Llanberis at the foot of Mount Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa.

Running in the half-marathon option, the route took Andy out through the foothills before the climb up the Ranger Path which reaches the large stone finger post just below the summit of Mount Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa. Return is via the Llanberis Path. Andy crossed the line in 4:21:42.