Goodgym and Camino Ultra London return in 2022, after the success of the Lea Valley and Epping Forest races last year. This time, we approached the 50km distance with a twist, and with some top navigation and collaboration skills required.

The Centre of the Universe event requires that each participant has to run a total of 50km to Here East, Hackney Wick, but allows the runner/s to start wherever they like, as long as this is outside of the 30km radius from the finishing line. We were also permitted (for the first time), to run the distance as a relay team. The main objective was to make sure that a tracker covered 50km total distance between the runners, from 8am onwards.

We had two teams set up for the event: Simon, Paul and John ran from Gravesend, and followed the Thames Path to the West (with a crossing in Dartford), and under the Woolwich Foot Tunnel to link to Hackney Wick via the Greenway. Lorna, Anastasia, Frances and Sam ran from Walton-on-Thames and followed the river to the East. They even included a cheeky parkrun in Bushy Park on route, and enjoyed some of the most energetic changeovers between their runners!

We were treated to a perfect day for running, and it was so satisfying to see our plans coming together after months of planning. Camino Ultra London (David, Darren, Paula, Gigi and the crew) did a smashing job of hosting this really fun event. We are already devising plans for more 50km routes for next year!