Beverley Athletic Club Members Complete Paras’ 10K

Beverley AC Paras 10K Image

Charlie Culpan, and Andy Tate from Beverley Athletic Club travelled to Catterick Garrison recently to compete in the 2009 Paras’ 10 challenge.

Described as the ultimate ten mile endurance event, the race follows the same route as the Parachute Regiment’s ‘P’ Company ten mile march which is used to select suitable recruits.  Candidates for the regiment are required to complete the multi-terrain course in less than 1 hour 50 minutes wearing military boots and carrying a 35lb bergen (rucksack).

Although the boots and bergen are optional for civilians, Charlie Culpan, along with around two-thirds of runners accepted the challenge and competed on equal terms with military personnel.  Despite back and foot injuries Charlie completed the tough course in 1 hour 54 minutes.

The event is designed to assess candidates’ physical fitness, determination and mental robustness and Charlie showed all these attributes to finish 638th out of almost 1200 entries.  Charlie said “I will be back next year fitter and stronger and with the experience gained from this first attempt, I’m confident of breaking 1 hour 50 minutes in 2010.”

Andy Tate and Jayne Dale were among the 500 other competitors who decided that carrying a 35lb bergen was not a good idea but wanted to take part and support the Help for Heroes charity.  They finished in 1 hour 11 minutes and 1 hour 21 minutes respectively.

Although not members of a running club and relatively new to entering races, Nicky Kilford (1 hour 42 minutes), Kim Culpan (1 hour 48 minutes) and Cheryl Stagg (1 hour 48 minutes), all from the Beverley area, completed the course in great style.  Special mention also to Tim ‘Bin’ Wheeler from Beverley who carried the bergen and with little training finished in 2 hours 31 minutes.



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