Six trainee priests are playing dirty – but it’s all in the best possible taste and all for a great cause.
The religious students from the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield are taking part in Wolf Run, a 10k mud and thunder obstacle challenge in Warwickshire.
The Church of England trainees will cast off their cassocks and push themselves to the limit with the aim of raising £2,000 for Kirkwood Hospice.
John Russell, Trudy Hobson, Eddie Carr, Gemma Sampson, Patrick Griffin and Charlie Annis are the dirty half-dozen who will be joined by Ben Simmons, a chef at the college.
The Wolf Run course includes man-made and natural obstacles including woods, lakes and fields and is all about “wild running”.
Events are held four times a year and runners can take part as a lone wolf or in packs.
The priests aged between 22 and 42 – calling themselves the Holy Hounds – head to Warwickshire on Saturday, April 11.
The idea for the run came from Trudy, a trumpeter in the RAF for 15 years.
Take a look at what's they're in for
Group spokesman John, 42, said the trainees have to carry out mission work in the community but Trudy wanted something more challenging than carol singing at a care home.
As part of their studies the trainees also have placements and one of the students, Lindsay Pearson, is at Kirkwood Hospice. Lindsay’s knees aren’t up to the rigours of the Wolf Run, however!
John, a former legal aid lawyer in London, said he, Eddie and Patrick were running up and down the towpaths around Mirfield in preparation.
“We are all looking forward to sliding into muddy swamps,” said John. “The Wolf Run is certainly one of the more extreme ones of its kind.
“Two of us know what we are letting ourselves in for because we’ve done something like this before. The others won’t know what’s hit them.”
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For more on Wolf Run, visit the website.
