A research chemist from Canterbury has talked of being forced to abandon the Original Mountain Marathon in the Lake District because of appalling weather.

The two-day event hit the national headlines at the weekend when contestants had to shelter from torrential rain.

Search and rescue teams were called out and at one point, as many as 1,700 entrants were unaccounted for.

John Harvey, 35, of York Road, ended up sheltering inside an old cow shed with 1,000 other people on Saturday night.

“We did try and make it back to the base camp where our car was, but it was just horrendous at that point,” said John, who works for Pfizer and was competing with colleague Paul Carrick.

Audio: hear John talking about the conditions >>>

But he feels many of those taking part knew what to expect: “Conditions were pretty bad up top, but I think with the nature of events like these, people don’t put themselves in any unneccesary risk.”

For full story see this week’s Kentish Gazette