At the tender age of 53 and despite my arthritic knees, on the 18th May at 6am I will taking part in the Chester 100 Ultra. I have 34 hours to cover 100 miles of mainly off road trails around the Chester area. You will be able to follow my progress via a GPS tracking website.

I will be doing this in aid of "The Cradley Clock."  St Peters has the chance to install a heritage clock on the front of the churches tower. The clock was saved from St Lukes Cradley Heath before it was condemned for demolition. The clock dating back to 1949 fits perfectly with-in the space St Peters church has in its tower. With St Peters being prominently situated on a hill, the heritage clock will be seen from miles away.

As you pass St Peters Cradley you can look up you will see how your kind donation has added to the town of Cradley and its proud heritage.

During my training runs and the race itself, I will be wearing my Verses Arthritis charity running vest, to highlight the silent degenerative disability known as Arthritis. I'm unable to walk let alone run without knee joint pain. However I'm determined despite the pain to carry on running for as long as possible. I'm sure there be will be some people who will say, I'm being silly or irresponsible attempting such a long distance endurance event. They maybe right? However I have already defied the odds by ignoring the medical advice to stop running after just 2 marathons and finished a further 21 including 3 ultra's.

When I first started running back in Aug 2016 aged 50 following my weight loss, by walking 7 miles every morning for 12 weeks before breakfast. I had never even met anyone who had run 100 miles. I still can't find anyone with knee arthritis to have covered that distance nonstop by foot. Yes, it will be my toughest challenge to date and I'm sure it will be both a massive physical and mental challenge to keep going till the end. However I'm sure to look up from Colley Lane and see "The Cradley Clock" on the front of St Peters Church it will all be worth it!  

Rachael and I plan to set off to drive up the M6 to Chester at about 3.00am Sat 18th May for the 6am start. Rachael will travel to each checkpoint helping the other slower runners and be armed with ice for my knackered knees. I have until 4pm the following day to cross the finish line. Then travel back down the M6 back home and SLEEP!

If you are interested in following my progress during the race you can watch my GPS tracker on a website. I will post the link on my Facebook page on the 17th May (day before the race). My advice would be start looking at the dots towards the back. Hover over my bib number and my name will appear. Click on the dot to view my checkpoint arrival times, average speed, length of running time and ETA.

If the Dot doesn't move for 15 minutes or so. Don't panic I have life insurance and have made a will.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Kind regards Richard

There are three parts to the project:

1. Dial Restoration and Installation

The dial restoration would consist of stripping down the ironwork, repainting it, re-gild the three concentric rings and replace the damaged glazing with vandal resistant acrylic. This would return the dial to its original appearance as it was in 1949.

2. Installation of quarter hour and hour chimes

The chimes would use electromagnetic hammers on the existing bells to sound the hours and quarters. A night silencing device would be added so that the clock can be stopped from chiming through the night.

3. Floodlighting of the tower

It is an ambition of St Peter’s to make the church more visible at night. Currently the church is quite hidden at night due to it being set back from the road and surrounded by its eight acres of churchyard. Plans have been drawn up to use energy efficient LED lighting to light the Victorian tower and remind people of the presence of the church in its community.