THIS IS an amazing story about local athlete Michael Burke that I covered in the local paper The Mid Sussex Times. I was having a conversation with Michael during a yoga session and asked if he wanted it covered. The story then developed from there.
The story is covered in the photograph below, but the text is recreated below, if it's difficult to read.
ESCAPE FROM Meriden is an ultra-marathon challenge that doesn't have conventional barriers. The start point is Meriden Village, Warwickshire near the ancient stone cross marking England's traditional centre.
This year the event celebrated their 10th anniversary with an extended 48 hour cut-off point.The race begins at midnight Saturday, and participants have to run, walk and crawl as far as possible in any direction for 48 hours. The distance is then measured as the "crow flies", a straight line from the starting line to the point the athlete finished at the 48-hour mark.
There are few rules to the race: no advice, no checkpoint or marshals, must avoid private land and roads without pavements. This is a unique ultra-endurance challenge where route planning (terrain, food, and sleep) is crucial for maximum distance from the start line.
Haywards Heath athlete Michael Burke took part in the event and completed it running for 47 hours as he was awake from 8am Friday to 1am on Monday, except for 15 minutes' sleep.
Michael came an incredible 2nd place covering 234.75km actual or - as the "crow flies" - 198km. Michael had support built into his run at selected points from his brother Tom.
A couple of weeks before the event Michae3l was ill and it was uncertain if he would be able to run. It wasn't until Wednesday the week before that Michael made the decision he was it fit to take part.
He said, "I was really happy with finishing in 2nd place. My aim was to run the distance driving was 153 miles.
Michael was running for charity supporting Combat Stress and you can support him by clicking here.
No comments:
Post a Comment