Hudds pensioner beats elements in Lake District marathon fiasco

Oct 27 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“We finished the course with 45 seconds to spare. Imagine my horror to find that the competition was being curtailed.”

Some 2,500 runners began the longer 36-mile race at 9am on Saturday, but race organisers called off the event three hours later because of the appalling weather conditions.

The emergency services and the RAF had to be brought into action to rescue stranded runners.

More than 1,700 people were unaccounted for overnight, with many finding shelter in farms, former mines and a school.

The race is billed as the “original mountain marathon and forerunner of all adventure racing”.