For most runners The Shere 42k would be quite a daunting prospect, with its multi-terrain course incorporating close to 4,000ft of elevation over the North Downs and Surrey Hills. For Patrick Kingston though, it wasn’t a challenge that would be deemed too extraordinary verses some of his recent escapades.

Completing the Krakonošov 100k over the summer before going on to cover some of the TDS route from the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. That saw him run 33 miles with 8,500ft of ascent, 15 miles with 7,600ft of ascent and 39 miles with 13,350ft of ascent – in three consecutive days.

His accomplishments in the mountains have been super impressive thus far, leaving other club members in awe. It was slightly different at the Shere 42k though as he was competing as par of a team. That meant he was joined by two of his mates who also ran the full 42k distance. Then it’s a question of which trio can complete the course in the fastest combined time.

The route for the Shere 42k starts and finished in the village of Shere and features a steep climb up to the North Downs Way to begin with. Then its off the Leigh Hill Tower via Wotton Hatch and Friday Street. Leith Hill is the highest point of the Southeast of England. It continues on to Greensand Way where the inclines to scale include Holmbury Hill, Pitch Hill, Raynards Hill, St Martha’s Hill and Newlands Corner.

Accompanying Patrick in the race were Ian Goodenough and Gareth Fish and together they formed the PIGs team, presumably on account of their first names rather than their eating habits.

It was basically, one big, very hilly loop. Then once the loop, that’s 26 miles done and you run back to Shere village. Or you’re supposed to anyway. Unfortunately Patrick didn’t realise he was supposed to turn right and head back to where he started to complete the race. Instead, he carried on the loop until he realise he’d gone wrong and turned back.

Adding an extra 3k to the distance, Patrick made it to the finish in 4 hours 16 minutes and 21 seconds which put him in 2nd place out of all the runners in the team competition. Had he not missed the turning at the end he would have been the fastest but it didn’t matter as it was his teammate Ian Goodenough who topped the standings in a time of 4:13:42.

Jake Penny finished 3rd in 4:27:57 before Gareth Fish arrived to complete the scoring team for PIGs. He made it over the line in 4:30:56 to seal the win for Patrick and his merry men. Jake Penny’s teammates were the next two to reach the finish so they were 2nd placed team.

There were nine teams in total competing so 27 runners in total. 90 athletes completed the individual 42k and that was won by Ry Webb in a time of 3:12:48. Jake Bowles of Guildford & Godalming was 2nd in 3:14:47 and Alex Gibb of RAF Central Fund was 3rd in 3:31:23.

Linda Goodchild was 1st female and 7th overall in 4:01:38, with Laura Murphy coming in as 2nd lady in 4:19:26.

Patrick’s time would have put him 11th in the individual standings, or 10th if he hadn’t added on the extra distance. With an average of 9 minutes per mile over the 28.48 miles, it was a strong run from Patrick considering the 4,000ft of elevation he faced.

Next up for Patrick it was the South of England Road Relays where he would form part of the four man vets team with Adrian James, Rich Brawn and Ricky Brennan. Then he had the Black Hill Run 10k the next day and that was the fourth fixture of five in the Purbeck Trail Series. Then the following weekend it was the Round the Lakes 10k.