Partially sighted Nidderdale woman takes on Ultra Challenge

Participants ran, jogged or walked routes of 100km, 50km, 25km and 10km, starting and finishing at the Nidderdale Showground in Pateley Bridge.

One person who took part was Nidderdale’s Penny Rudge Uglow, who is visually impaired and walked 100km tethered to her guide Harrogate firefighter and personal trainer James Winder, to raise money for Retina UK.

“They set off at 7.30am and they navigated obstacles like stiles, rocky, uneven slopes and narrow paths that don’t allow them to walk side-by-side,” said Herald correspondent Kirsty Shepherd.

“James had to narrate the whole way round and describe to Penny what was coming up next - a challenge in itself to keep doing.

“Penny and James finished the 100km challenge the next day at 10.30am meaning they had walked continuously for 27 hours.”

Penny lost almost all of her sight from an inherited retinal condition and cannot see where she is going,

The route was a massive figure of eight across Nidderdale and the pair faced narrow paths and obstacles.

“We’ve been training for this and we had a big motivation - over £5,000 that we’re raising for Retina UK through my Justgiving page,” said Penny.

“So every kilometre we walked raised £50 for research that will save young people with inherited retinal conditions from going blind like me.”

“It was a huge challenge - two and a bit marathons - and although there were 1,600 other participants, half of whom who also tackled the full distance, we were the only ones tethered together as a blind-sighted duo.

“There were lots of obstacles that presented us with particular challenges — like stiles, rocky, uneven slopes and narrow paths that don’t allow us to walk side-by-side.

“James narrated the whole way to describe what was coming up next to me - a challenge in itself to keep doing for 27 hours.”

Donate at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Penny-Rudge-Uglow