A PLYMOUTH event described as a cross between an ultra-marathon and a music festival has been nominated for three gongs at the 2016 Running Awards – and organisers are after your vote.

The Hope24 charity race has been held at Newnham Park in Plympton for the last two years, and involves runners doing as many laps of a five-mile course as they can in 24 hours.

This year’s winner covered 135 miles – that’s 27 circuits – while the majority of athletes run in teams, covering up to 180 miles in total.

The nature of the event means that runners camp out at the event, while live music, food and stalls help to create a festival atmosphere.

All money raised goes towards the charity Hope for Children, with organiser Danny Slay – a Plympton firefighter – having raised more than £12,000 through the last two events alone.

The event has been nominated in three categories in the 2016 Running Awards, which culminate in an awards night at the O2 Arena in London the day before next year’s London Marathon.

Hope24 is listed in the Best New event, Best Charity Event and Best Trail Event (less than 1,000 runners) categories.

Nominations continue until December 4, and Slay is hoping that Plymouth’s running community will register their vote ahead of the shortlisting process on December 8.

“The award isn’t for me, it’s for everybody who runs the event,” said Slay.

“It’s been nominated by some of the people who did the event, but I think about 1,000 people will be at the awards night and there will be some of the top people in athletics too.”

He continued: “What I’m proud of is that we’ve kept the event as a kind of festival of running – there’s no prizes given out, apart from spot prizes, it’s more like a great run and a festival at the same time.

“What I don’t want to do is overfill Newnham Park – last year we had 196 runners and this year we had 430.

“Looking at the videos of this year’s event there’s still capacity in the field, and it’s a five-mile course so the runners are quite spread out.

“We’ve got 420 signed up for next year’s event and there’s still six months to go.

“But it will never go above 1,000.”

Slay founded the event in order to support the fundraising efforts of a group of firefighters – including himself – who were taking on the gruelling Marathon des Sables, across the Sahara Desert.

Popular

The first year attracted almost 200 runners and raised more than £9,000 towards the group total of more than £55,000 the firefighters raised for charity.

But he said the event was so popular that it has become established in its own right.

“I had seen a similar event which had been held in Reading, and so I put in on here and was amazed by the response,” he explained.

“The sole purpose of that was to raise money for the Marathon des Sables – but it’s now become an event in its own right.

“It’s all about having fun to be honest – that’s the primary focus.

For runners

“But when I did it in the first year, the feedback was so good that we thought we would do it again, and we had 485 registered for this year.

“Everything we do it voted for by the runners – even the design on the hoodies that we get.

“Basically, it’s for runners, by runners.”

Next year’s event is already filling up fast, with more than 400 registered already for the 2016 race, which takes place at Newnham Park on May 14-15.

It costs £25 to enter, with a commitment of at least £100 in fundraising.

To vote for Hope24 in the 2016 Running Awards, go to http://therunningawards.com/vote and register.