Alpine adventure is tough going for Wooler's Henrietta

Henrietta Bolton Carter (known to most as H) from Wooler and NFR running clubs

Covering a distance of 64km and 4,500 metres of ascent, Henrietta, who works with Kate Cairns on the See Me Save Me campaign, set off at 10am from La Fouly in Switzerland on July 9.

She ran over the border into Italy and the Col de Grand St Bernard, before crossing back into Switzerland.

Here she climbed another two big cols up to 2,715m in height, finally reaching the finish line at 11pm after a head torch descent through the forest and down into the ski resort of Verbier.

“It was a really tough run, we had to cross a lot of snow on the the first two cols, tricky in just trail shoes,” Henrietta said.

“With temperatures reaching over 30C and under a hot sun all day, I suffered from dehydration and acute cramping and had to stop for long periods at the checkpoints and feeding stations to hydrate and recover.

“The final ascent from Lourtier in the Bagnes valley to La Chaux, just above Verbier, was hideous, and we were a long line of broken bodies crawling up the mountain side.

“The run down into Verbier in the dark with the head torch on was great, and it was such a relief to cross the finish line.”

Henrietta completed the run in just under 13 hours and came in 229 out of 1,000 starters and just missed out on a podium place, finishing fourth in her age category.