Imber Ultra Marathon

On Sunday 5^th March the Rotary Club o f Westbury and the Avon Valley running group of Trowbridge held their 9^th annual Imber Ultra Marathon race.

The race follows a circular starting at the Leighton Recreation Centre in Westbury, skirting Warminster, Chitterne, Tilshead and Eddington before returning to Westbury, a route of some 33 miles over tracks and rough terrain.

This year we had a reduced number of entries but still managed to attract 112 hardy souls to attempt this arduous event.

The race was started by the Westbury Town Crier John Hadfield after a brief by Avon Valley race coordinator Martin Bull and a speech by the Westbury Rotary President Jon Street.

The weather was very kind to the runners with cool temperatures and light winds for the majority of the race.  People who know Salisbury Plain are aware that it can be a bleak place in inclement weather.

The winning runner, Ra Twilley, came home in 4 hours 8 minutes, he had a sprint finish to beat Jack Blanchard by only 8 seconds.  The winning lady, Una Mills, finished in 4 hours 26 minutes.  These are impressive stats by any standards.

The prizes were awarded by a Marc Allum.  Marc is a well-known antiques expert from Chippenham, he has appeared for over 10 years on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.  Marc stayed on for over 3 hours to present all of the prizes.

The race was sponsored by Myddleton & Major from Salisbury and Ford car dealership of Trowbridge and Westbury. Lidl’s also supplied a large quantity of botted water and citrus fruit for the runners and Morrisons supplied fruit as well.

Planning is already underway for the 10^th running of the event in 2024!

The event helps the Rotary Club of Westbury to raise funds to support local charities supported by Rotary and Rotary Foundation.