Cool canals Guides & Waterways Directory

Grand Union Canal Race

It's Britain's longest, toughest, and probably most overlooked, continuous race

If you fancy spending your May Bank Holiday in the company of 80 or so runners, togged up with a pair of trainers, a water bottle, and a 'hyper-thermal' blanket, the rules are simple: all you have to do is run 145 miles within a time limit of 45 hours with no stops over 40 minutes...

Marathons are a mere 26 miles; this is an ultra marathon, and you have to be ultra-fit or ultra-bonkers to try it! But if you do, and you successfully complete the distance within the time limit, you will have earned your title in the online hall of fame. Claude Hardel claimed the current record for the fastest feet to date, when he hot-legged the route in under 28 hours in 2003.

If rising to the challenge sounds too sweaty for you, an alternative day out could involve a flask and a fold-up chair, as you wave off the brave

at the start in Birmingham's Gas Street Basin, or count them back in at the finishing post in London's Little Venice. Just don't expect the numbers to tally - anything can happen between start & finish!

Thunder claps or not, the Grand Union Canal Race is always eventful and definitely a noteworthy Grand day out, whether you are lycra fit or a couch potato...

Further information:

Grand Union Canal Race offical website