Report: Fr Bruno’s Challenge – heroic effort … and an injury

After months of hard training, Fr Bruno set off at midnight on Saturday for his 110-km (68-miles) Ultra-marathon Challenge in the Lake District.

Following a strong start, and having covered 4 mountains and achieved 56km (35 miles) in nine hours, he was unfortunately forced by injury to retire soon after 9am. 

Fr Bruno ran just over half of the total distance, the equivalent of one and a third full-size normal marathons, and did so over a difficult Lake-District terrain. In pitch black, with only a head torch lighting his way, Fr Bruno made it to the first check point in one and a half hours – excellent timing. But soon after the check point, he encountered problems. He descended a deep valley, followed by a hugely steep ascent and an equally steep descent on the other side. Poor visibility caused him to trip, leading to the tendon injury that forced him to stop. We should report that only 190 out of the 414 participants managed to finish the Ultra-marathon. ‘If it wasn’t for my injury’, Fr Bruno said, ‘I would have finished it’. Then he added, ‘that’s why I’m planning to run it again next year.’

Br Samuel Burke, on behalf of the Dominican student brothers, thanked Fr Bruno for his valiant efforts in raising over £3,600 for the Dominican Friars Training Fund, by saying: ‘Last year three brothers and I raised funds for the Training Fund by walking from one side of the country to the other on our Coast-to-Coast trail. This year Fr. Bruno valiantly picked up the gauntlet in choosing to run across the same challenging Lake District terrain where we had but walked last year. Our deepest thanks go to Fr. Bruno for his efforts, and to the generous benefactors that contributed to support the training fund.

Inspiration

Fr Bruno not only succeeded in raising funds, but he also managed to inspire others. Around 7am, he encountered a fellow participant on the route who asked, ‘Are you Fr Bruno Clifton?’, to which Fr Bruno replied, ‘Yes, I am’. 

‘Thank you’, the man said, waving a piece of paper at him. ‘I printed out all your biblical quotations about running: thanks for the inspiration’.

We wish Fr Bruno a swift recovery from his injury and thank him again for his heroic efforts. We look forward to hearing about his future challenges!

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