16/09/2026
A new British ultra just tried something unusual. Take a 17th-century pilgrimage route and see if anyone can run it in a day.
The inaugural Pilgrim's Reckoning sent 46 runners into the Bedfordshire countryside on Saturday evening, starting from Bedford at 18:00 BST. The course loops 81 miles along the John Bunyan Trail, passing through Meppershall, Barton Le Clay, Streatley, Harlington, Ampthill, Cranfield and Bromham before returning to Bedford.
Race director Sarah Groves built the event around the John Bunyan Trail after seeing its markers on her training runs. "After seeing how beautiful it was, I thought I had to share it with other people, and that's how it was born," she told the BBC.
Bunyan, born 1628 in nearby Elstow, wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in 1678, considered by some the first modern novel. He was imprisoned in Bedford for 12 years in the 1660s for refusing to stop preaching.
The route now bears his name. So does the race.
1,219 metres of elevation. Seven aid stations. A drop bag at halfway. Charity runners raising money for Save the Rhino International and homelessness charity Hope Works.
A pilgrimage, condensed into 24 hours.
📷 Sarah Groves
