Ultra runners who think they can master famous route that spans the length of Britain will be able to battle for the title of world champion in addition to attractive prize pot

The inaugural ‘End to End Championships’ is set to be launched with a prize pot of £100,000 for ultra-endurance runners who want to take on the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats route.

The event will be the de facto world championship for the JOGLE/LEJOG challenge and is being created by distance running enthusiast Will Cockerell with runners having a 15-month window from August 1, 2021, to November 1, 2022, to tackle the 800-plus-mile distance.

There is a £250 entry fee with the first man and woman winning £35,000 each, plus £15,000 prizes for the runners up.

Entrants can attempt the ‘JOGLE’ (from the most northerly point of Britain at John O’Groats in Scotland ‘down’ to the most southerly point at Land’s End in south-west England) or they can do the LEJOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats).

The fastest known times are held by Carla Molinaro with 12 days and 30 minutes from 2020 whereas the men’s best is a controversial mark held by Andi Rivett with 9 days and 2 hours.

But in recent years Cockerell has campaigned to have Rivett’s mark removed from the Guinness Book of Records because he believes the 2002 performance was achieved without adequate evidence and in suspicious circumstances as Rivett took a whole day off the previous record.

In addition, Rivett failed to post another world-class performance in his whole running career and his best for the 24-hour run is an average 120 miles. Instead, Cockerell regards Dan Lawson’s 9 days and 21 hours as the true course record.

Cockerell calls attempts to run the length of the UK as “an iconic and beloved challenge” and the End to End Championships has so far attracted interest from US ultra-running legends such as Camille Heron and Mike Wardian.

Cockerell says: “The last Jogle Championships of this type were in 1960, with Billy Butlin’s extravaganza. We can’t promise the 715 starters from then, most of whom either cheated, collapsed, or both; but we can promise great drama and a feast of top-class multi-day running.”

READ MORE: Carla Molinaro breaks LEJOG record

As for rules, Cockerell says there aren’t many. “You can take any route you like – except motorways of course, and travel in either direction – the jury’s out on which way is quicker,” he says.

“All athletes must agree to be filmed for segments of their journeys by crews for a television special on the event to be offered to a major network.

“Independent witnesses will be on hand throughout and the athletes and runners will be required to be tracked via live.opentracking.co.uk”.

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