A FITNESS enthusiast from Bury has completed the impressive feat of running 10 10k events in 10 months.

And Nicola Brown’s final leg of her personal challenge was one to remember – braving the cold, she ran up Rivington Pike with only torchlight to lead the way.

Miss Brown, a member of Bury Athletics Club who was also marking her 34th birthday with the run, was taking part in ‘The Night Runner’ – a 10k after-dark fell run up the hill summit in the West Pennine Moors.

She said: “I have done a 10k every month for the past 10 months and this is the final one and it just so happened to fall on my birthday.

“It was a challenge I set myself to get back into running, and one of the 10ks was in Skiathos in Greece.

“But this one was completely different, which is why I chose it as the last one, as it was my first night trail.

“It’s quite exciting really and I have enjoyed running with different people as different friends have got involved, it’s been a good experience.”

Roger Morley, former captain and now facilities manager at Bury Athletics Club, said: “Nicola is part of our development group and a very consistent trainer.

“I am delighted for her that she has achieved this feat and is being noticed for it, of course it helps recognise us as a club and hopefully will encourage more people to get involved. There are many benefits of running – of course, there are the obvious health and wellbeing elements, but also it gives you incentive to constantly improve and it can be very rewarding when you keep beating your best time. There is also a lot of camaraderie created by being involved in a club like ours, too.”

Miss Brown was not the only competitor from Bury. Carl Wilcock, from Ainsworth, was hoping to get round the course, with his girlfriend Michelle Hincks, in one piece.

Before the event, he said: “We have done Tough Mudder events in the past but never any trail or fell runs and never at night. We are just hoping to not come last but we don’t know what to expect from the course.”

Race director Chris Kitchen said he was pleased with the turnout of the event which “went really well”.

“It’s a very unique idea and quite niche, but I think people like it because it’s so different,” he added.