Pilgrim's trail inspires 81-mile ultra run

4 hours ago

Alex PopeBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

News image — Sarah Groves has carried out recce runs (pictured) along the route in Bedfordshire

Sarah Groves Three people running or hopping down steps outside, with green foliage all around them. A woman is at the front, wearing a purple top and bottoms and a jacket. She is holding a mobile phone. Two men are behind her, wearing caps and T-shirts and shorts. They are all looking down to the ground. — Sarah Groves has carried out recce runs (pictured) along the route in Bedfordshire

A 24-hour ultra-marathon inspired by a 17th Century preacher will get under way later.

Runners will depart from Bedford and loop into the countryside for the inaugural 81-mile (130 km) Pilgrim's Reckoning.

Race director Sarah Groves said that while out on training runs, she kept seeing markers for the John Bunyan Trail, which was a pilgrimage linking the churches associated with writer John Bunyan.

"After seeing how beautiful it was, I thought I had to share it with other people, and that's how it was born," she explained.

Sarah Groves The back of a woman walking through a dry field of wheat or long grass, with a ruined church in front of her but slightly to the right. There is blue sky above. She is wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a blue bag over her back. — Runners will go past the ruins of All Saints Church at Segenhoe, near Ridgmont

Bunyan (1628 - 1688) wrote Pilgrim's Progress, which was first published in 1678.

It is considered by some to be the first modern novel and has never been out of print.

He was born in nearby Elstow, and was imprisoned in Bedford for 12 years in 1660s for refusing to give an assurance not to preach.

Groves said 46 people were due to take part in the event that started at 18:00 BST, sending competitors via Meppershall, Barton Le Clay, Streatley, Harlington, Ampthill, Cranfield, Bromham and finishing in Bedford on Sunday.

The challenge takes in "countryside and farmland with lots of quaint villages".

Sarah Groves Two white signs, with the words THE BUNYAN TRAIL printed in black lettering, fixed to a wooden post. One sign appears to be broken. — Organisers said the trail was "built around the idea of a journey that becomes more demanding with every mile"

Groves had heard of the Long Distance Walkers Association's eight-day trek across the trail so she thought "would there really be anyone crazy enough to try and run 81 miles in 24 hours?"

"It turns out there are quite a few."

Many people are taking part to raise funds for their chosen charity, including one runner dressed as a rhino for Save the Rhino International.

Stuart McCaw Stuart McCaw, out on a run, with an arm out taking a selfie, with a cap on the wrong way round, wearing a blue T-shirt and a backpack on. He is running down a path, with green bushes and trees to the right. — Stuart McCaw is raising funds for homelessness charity Hope Works, which he works for

Stuart McCaw, from Rushden in Northamptonshire, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma cancer in September 2025 and spent six months having chemotherapy.

He is now in remission and will raise funds for the Bedford-based homelessness charity Hope Works, which he works for.

"I'm excited to take part. I'm nervous anticipating the unknown. It is a crazy challenge - I'm a runner - but this is a completely different kettle of fish."