LEDBURY’S Mayor, Cllr Phillip Howells, is saying a big thank you to everyone who supported his recent ‘Ledbury Mayor’s’ run for charity.

And Cllr Howells, who is a very experienced marathon runner, certainly did his bit too, by running all the way from Ledbury to Herefordshire to attend a county council meeting, then back again, by the longer and more scenic route.

Cllr Howells, who as well as being a town councillor is a county councillor too, said of the Mayor’s Mile event: “A very rewarding sum of £126.20 was collected for the three Herefordshire based charities of Addaction, Strong Young Minds and Amnesty International, which are being supported in my mayoral year.”

The Mayor’s Mile was just that, a relatively short charity run from the Market House, but Cllr Howells decided to push himself quite a bit more.

Fellow county councillors were surprised to see him arrive at Shire Hall in his running kit, and he had to run home again, arriving back in Ledbury in the rain and the drizzle.

He said: “Fortune smiled on me for I luckily missed all rain during the run, except for that bit of drizzle. I gave a few more ‘miles for the money’ than anticipated because I took the safer, quieter and much more scenic route over Marcle Ridge via Woolhope and Mordiford rather than risking the main road, but it was longer and of course much hillier and made the total run about 34 miles.

“I quite amazed myself by doing both directions in the same time to the minute, just under 4hrs 15mins each way, 8hrs 30mins in total.”

He added: “The kind and considerate offers of a lift home given how far it was with bad weather threatened were very tempting, but of course the whole point was to travel both ways ‘self-contained’ for the meeting.

“My legs were fine, but hefting a heavy rucksack with computer, change of clothing, food and water, etc, left me with bruised shoulders! Overall, hard though it may be to understand, I did really enjoy it! Running in the dark - leaving at 4.45am, especially on quiet lanes, with no need for a head torch most of the time with no traffic, and with nature all around you is actually quite a mystical experience and I love running in those conditions.

“And of course it was a good training run for my next marathon in a couple of weeks’ time, in Snowdonia.”