Firstly, we apologise for the excruciating pun but our correspondent just couldn't resist!

Adam 'Tango' Holland loves a holiday in Italy. He also loves a long daily run. So why not combine the two passions and run the ORTA 10-in-10: 10 Marathons in 10 Days alongside the beautiful Lake Orta in northern Italy, west of the better-known tourist haunt of Lake Maggiore?

The ultra-endurance athlete represents Tavistock AC in Devon and is Britain's most prolific marathoner, having completed 100 marathons aged 23 years – the youngest person in Europe to have achieved this revered milestone. He joined the 100 Marathon Club on 10 October 2010 and completed his 500th marathon/ultra on Saturday 6 August 2022 on day one of the ORTA 10-in-10, where he was awarded the race number 500 in honour of this stunning achievement. 
 
It is the 10-in-10 where Adam's talents really shine as he is the fastest in the world with the best average of 2hrs 45mins for this specialism. And as a previous Orta 10-in-10 champion and the event record holder he was the pre-race favourite once again. 

The mantle of expectation was borne lightly by the 35-year-old Devonian, as his daily results show. He opened with 2:54:38 and closed with 2:55:43 in a remarkable display of consistency. Adam's fastest run (2:50:34) came on the eighth day and his average was 2:55:31, finishing first in nine of his ten races (beaten only by Italian athlete Emanuele Massoni who ran just one marathon on the fifth day)!

On the fourth day, Adam ran his 200th sub-three-hour marathon (2:56:44) despite a drink station mishap and getting obstructed on a very narrow road at one point, causing a few negative thoughts that had to be boxed off to achieve this latest target. 

The full story can be followed via Adam 'Tango' Holland on Facebook as he reeled off ten sub-three-hour marathons from 6 August to 15 August in daily temperatures up to 37C.  The final two days were a battle of wills with a tightening calf muscle but Adam dug deep and powered home for another memorable 10-in-10 victory.

Back home in Somerset, the man with the flame shorts was out in his local parkrun on Saturday (20 August) to test his speed. Test passed (16:50) as the first finisher – for the 206th time and the 28th time at the appropriately named Longrun Meadow parkrun!

Image courtesy Adam Holland on Facebook