Camelford and nearby villages were a sea of colour for April Fools Day as the inaugural Camelford Up and Running April Fools ten miler took place.

Thirteen brightly dressed runners took to the streets, running in a loop with the strategic advantage of having their ‘pit stops’ at local pubs. For hydration purposes, of course.

Matt Allan, one of the runners described how the day panned out.

He said: “We met at Camelford’s Bandstand at midday and trotted to The Conservative Club approximately 10 metres away for our first drink stop. We then went to The Mason’s Arms, and on to the Liberal Club.

“Sam and I placed our first ‘pit stop’ just up the road at The Darlington Inn. We thought it would be nice to include The Darlington Inn on our rounds, although it stopped trading as a pub a few years ago. We all shared a bottle of Sourz, then ran, walked, and waddled towards Bowood Golf Club.

“The response from cars and on lookers was amazing. There were hoots, toots and cheers as they saw us all struggling along the pavement in our costumes.

The weather took a turn for the worse whilst at Bowood and when we left to head for St Teath we all got wet. Spirits were high though and no one complained about the weather, we just cracked on and found fun and laughter wherever we could.

“Our next ‘pit stop’ was at Newhall Green. We were treated to plenty of Baileys and some After Eight type chocs. We then continued to The White Hart at St Teath where we enjoyed a drink and a warm-up by their open fire. The weather had dried up when leaving St Teath.

“We all headed towards Delabole and had some lovely sweet treats at West Downs on the outskirts of Delabole. Our next pub stop was The Bettle and Chisel then on to my Sister’s house by Rock Head Garage. She had made (way too many) Vodka Jellies, but we did good and none got wasted! Then it was onto the back roads via Under lane, towards Camelford now.

“Our final ‘pit stop’ was at the lower side of Hendra. We had a stumpy bottle of beer then continued back to where it all started some 6+ hours ago, The Conservative Club, Camelford.

“Many of us enjoyed some takeaway food with a couple of beers, and we all sat down and had a good laugh about the day. With thanks mainly to Jon, we finished with a good ol’ sing song which seemed to sound pretty good although the Club was quite empty by the time we’d finished.

“Thank you to everyone for joining us, and especially for those lovely ‘pit stop’ treats! Thank you, too, to each and every pub which all gave us a lovely, warm welcome and thank you to Sam’s mum Deb for supporting us en route. Oh, and my sister Ness for our Vodka Jellies! What a great day we had!”

Matt confirmed the run will take place again next year, on April 1, which is a bank holiday Monday.