AN INTREPID ultra runner is ready to write his name into the history books by becoming the first man to run the whole of a trail route around the region in one go.
Colin Green hopes to circumnavigate the Greater Manchester Ringway – all 200 miles of it – in under 72 hours.
It will mean five hours’ sleep combined, with none on his last night, as he runs through the 10 boroughs that make up the Greater Manchester area.
And Colin’s final stage sees him enter Tameside. Starting from Greenfield railway station at 8am on Friday, May 3, he will make his way through Uppermill, following the canal path, before heading to Dobcross, up Lark Hill Lane and along Harrop Edge Lane before passing Castleshaw and snaking along the border with West Yorkshire.
He will then run into Denshaw before heading out of Saddleworth into Newhey.
On his return – after running in Manchester, Salford, Wigan, Trafford, Rochdale, Bolton, Bury, Stockport and Tameside – he re-enters Saddleworth after skirting the border with Derbyshire at the aptly-named Wilderness before making his way to Chew Reservoir then down to Chew Plantation and on to Intake and Friezland Lanes.
Once he has passed Tame Valley Tennis and Squash Club, he will then complete his journey back where it started.
“It’s going to be a slow, long slog,” quipped Colin, who has completed the longer Spine Race along the Pennine Way in the past.
“I’m hoping to do it in under 72 hours. I’ll take a bivvy bag, so I’ll sleep on the route. My plan is to sleep two hours the first night, three on the second and not on the third.
“I start at Greenfield station and finish at Greenfield station.
“It’s mainly trails around all those areas. The route was only launched last year and it’s trying to link up all the green areas around Greater Manchester.
“I took one look at it and thought, ‘I fancy that.’ No-one else has run it yet either. People have done it in four stages but one every weekend, no-one has done it in one go.
“It should start at St Peter’s Square in Manchester and finish there, but it’s daft going into Manchester to run past my house.
“The first few stages are harder ones then it starts going towards Bromley Cross and Wigan then it flattens out – but the last stage from Broadbottom to Greenfield is the hardest!
“You go up to the reservoir, then drop down to Chew Valley Road area, you end up near the squash club then to Greenfield Station.
“Then I can go to bed!”
Colin had prepared for a 186-mile route but days before his start, he was advised the poor winter weather meant some adjustments and a longer journey.
But the neuro-physiotherapist, who works with people living with a brain injury or conditions like Parkinson’s Disease and multiple sclerosis, has run further.
And he told Saddleworth Independent how he will manage the hours and how he hopes there is not a sudden heatwave.
He added: “It’s shorter and flatter than the Spine Race and hopefully warmer, but I don’t want it too hot.
“I’d rather be in miserable weather than hot weather as you can warm yourself up or keep yourself dry, but you struggle to cool yourself down.
“I’ve a day pack and a night pack. It doesn’t have my sleeping kit in it, but my wife, Jane, will meet me at night and we’ll switch over, then meet me again and give me the day pack when I start running.
“The day pack’s much lighter as in the night one has a mattress, a bivvy bag and the sleeping bag.”
There is also a serious side to Colin’s efforts as he is doing his run in aid of the charity Day One Trauma Support after hearing how they work with people affected by events.
He said: “It’s quite a new, small charity and after someone’s had a catastrophic accident, they provide emotional and practical support from day one.
“I went to a talk a few weeks ago and one of the survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing – he lost his daughter and he was significantly injured and he talked about how much help they’d been for him.
“I was looking for a charity and went to the talk, it fitted in with work. It’s along similar lines, that’s why I wanted to do it for them.”
*YOU can sponsor Colin on his journey by clicking www.justgiving.com/page/colin-green-1713621760297.
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