Our very own Mark Barnes, deputy manager of the Climbers Shop, set off on Friday 10th July, on his attempt to break the solo time record for completing the South West Coastal Path.

The South West Coastal Path covers some 630 miles (1014 km) and runs right around the South West Coast from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset. This is over twice the distance of the Pennine Way and makes it by far the longest National Trail in the British Isles. It also climbs and descends a leg breaking 35000 metres (114,931 ft) along the way.

Mark aims to cover this extrordinary distance in under 14 days, averaging around 46 miles a day. To put that in to perspective, your average fit hill walker will aim to do it in about 8 weeks! He will also be largley self supported carrying everything he needs for the 2 weeks on his back, with only occasional scheduled resupplies from his dedicated support team (his wife and kids). There have also been rumours that Mark may fuel his run with cream teas and Cornish ice cream along the way.

Mark, a Cornish man himself, is an experienced ultra distance runner who has competed in various Ultra marathons, including the Tour of Mont Blanc and the West Highland Way. He is dedicated to his endurance running, trains every week in the fells around Coniston and is regularly seen dragging huge tyres around behind him just for 'the craic'.

We are hopefully going to be getting regular updates from Mark on his progress so keep an eye on our blog and on our Twitter twitter.com/ClimbersShop for the latest news.

From all here, back at work....Best of luck Mark!