ABERGAVENNY endurance athlete Shelly Kelly was recently presented with an award by the Cardiff Outdoor Group for completing the Three Peaks Trial Gold Route Challenge not once, not twice, but thrice, in a muscle busting time of of 19 hours and 50 minutes.

In other words Shelly climbed over 15,000 feet in 60 miles all in the space of 24 hours. And that’s a lot of ground covered and distance run.

The long distance dynamo began her torturous trek in the cold dark quiet of Saturday morning. 2.30am to be precise. Guided by a trail of glow sticks which family members had kindly placed along the path to light her way, the maverick cross-country rambler blasted her way across the Blorenge, scaled the Sugar-Loaf, and soared over the Skirrid in a tenacious display of true grit. She then knuckled down to do it two more times.

Finally, bruised, battered, and fighting extreme exhaustion, she walked the last mile into the record books and finally took the load off her feet at 9.30pm on Saturday night.

Chris Lewis, who coordinates the event for Cardiff Outdoor Group, and who knows a thing or two about going the distance, explained, “I’ve completed a single ’lap’ of the Three Peaks Trial a number of times and every time have ended the event exhausted almost unable to put one foot in front of the other so I am in awe of what Michelle has accomplished. Its a feat of endurance that went way above and beyond.”

On presenting the award at the Longtown Mountain Rescue Team base in Abergavenny, Chris Lewis said to Shelly, “You are an inspiration to us all.”

Shelly was motivated to undertake this huge challenge in memory of her nephew Sam Harris who died in October 2014. He worked for PGL Tregoyd, who help under-privileged children experience the great outdoors.

JRR Tolkien once said, “It’s not the strength of the body that counts but the strength of the spirit.”

With this in mind Shelly was asked if she is tempted to try the Gold Route four times, to which she replied, “It would be possible for someone to do the route four times in 24 hours but it definitely won’t be me.”