Marathon runners swap London for Shropshire for unique test
Debbie Morris and Amanda Ellis joined hundreds of Shropshire runners pounding the streets and lanes of the county in the virtual London Marathon today - the second 26.2 miles the duo clocked up in eight days.
Debbie, from Wellington, and Amanda, from Admaston, got into both the London and the Berlin marathons this year, both originally well spaced out in April and September.
So when London was at first postponed before becoming a virtual event, the Wrekin Road Runners decided to see if they could do them back to back in consecutive weekends.
They took to the lanes around Amanda's home on September 27 for the Berlin run, completing the distance in four hours and 27 mins, then chose the Ironbridge gorge for virtual London, finishing at Dale End in four hours and 55 minutes on Sunday.
Amanda got her place for London through the charity Whiz Kids and has been fundraising throughout the year.
"We were tired after the previous weekend but we had such a lot of support on our London route as we were wearing our numbers and people were cheering and clapping us.
"We saw a lot of other virtual marathon runners as well and the atmosphere crossing the Ironbridge was wonderful," Debbie said.
"Amanda and I met through our running club in 2016 and we have become firm friends."
