BERE Alston Trekkers involved an exceptional number of off-road miles being covered.

At Newnham Park in Plympton, the eagerly waited Hope 24 event kicked off on Saturday morning with a choice of distances for the children’s races of 2.4 Km (1.5 miles) or 2.4 miles followed by the main event - 24 hours of running continuously for solo entrants and relay teams.

This year, Mel Greaves, Fiona Maddock, Fran Morgan and Murray Turner entered as soloists and tackled the off-road course which comprises of five-mile loops around the Newnham Estate, limited to 750 entrants, with proceeds this year going towards the charities Hope for Children, and Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group (Plymouth).

The inclement conditions overnight forced the closure of the course for six hours until 5am, thus runners completed this challenge in 18 hours instead of the customary 24 hours, but this did not deter the BATs who ran either solo, or in relay teams.

These included runners Fran Morgan (50 miles), Mel Greaves (60 miles), Murray Turner (30 miles) and Fiona Maddock (50 miles); other BATs running the event as relay team participants were Marcia Macey, Northern BATs Andy Cowden, Jaynie Turner, Angelo and Sara Apa, Heather French, Nicola Munday, Sam Marshall, Julian Setterington and Ralph Elmes, all of whom were generously supported by BAT friends and family, Karin Kattenhorn, Derek Hicks, Alison Greaves and Jo Bourton.

Fellow BATs Martin and Hilary Head travelled into Cornwall on Sunday to take part in St Austell Running Club’s IMERYS Trail Marathon and half marathon.

For one day only, the land of Cornwall’s China Clay Industry is open to the public, providing a unique experience to the runners.

The operational working sites, along with land which has been regenerated from the industrial past, provide a challenging and spectacular course.

With only short sections of road, this multi terrain route takes the participants through a network of paths and a tunnel in Wheal Martyn and out onto the sand roads around the clay pits..

The event started overcast, but the sun soon came out providing stunning vistas of Cornwall’s countryside and coastline (both north and south) at it’s very best.

Martin and Hilary had both entered the half marathon, and finished in times of 02.11.07 and 02.58.43 respectively.