Running Pennine 10k was an incredible experience

I have to now express my thanks to a number of people.

Firstly, I would like to thank the staff and volunteers from the Pendleside Hospice for the very warm welcome they gave us when we arrived in town on Sunday morning.

My rudimentary maths leads me to believe that my own little bit of fund-raising will allow that particularlocal charity to exist for another 24 minutes!

Secondly, I would like to say a very big thank-you to everyone who cheered us along the route.

That extra encouragement really does make a difference.

Thirdly, it would be rude not to thank all the other runners who turned up on the day and made the first running of this event in our bit of East Lancashire so spcial.

And I would also like to thank every single person who sponsored any one of the runners, whichever charity they were supporting.

The sun shone and the parks in Burnley looked wonderful as we hauled ourselves through them in glorious weather.

I really do hope it was all enough to impress the organisers and that they will bring the race back to town, hopefully next year.

I just hope that the number of people who said they would run and then did not turn up does not put the organisers off this excellent venue.

In the weeks building up to the race, we ran numerous stories about several high-profile people who said they were running and supporting various charities.

Since finishing the run on Sunday morning I have looked in vain for their race times to see how they performed.

Several of them were even given a “shout out” just before the start, but were nowhere to be seen on the day.

Several charities were hoping for support from these mysterious non-runners.

Hopefully, those involved have since managed to convince their sponsors to still make a suitable donation –or will now put the money up themselves.