Here's a running event that'll make you feel all weak at the knees. The Enigma Week at the Knees – check the spelling – lasts for a whole week and is an ultra-endurance challenge featuring seven marathons in seven days, starting on Monday 11 March 2024.

There are two venues – the Lakeside Grill and Bar (MK15 9HQ) on the shores of Willen Lake, Milton Keynes for the first three days and Premier Inn (MK7 8HP) Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes for the final four days.

Both venues offer multiple lap courses that facilitate pace judgement and feed/hydration stations. Days one to four are purely for the marathon distance races but from day five to day seven there is a half marathon option.

Seven is an important number as all seven marathons in seven days have to be run in less than seven hours to count – the race instructions clearly state: "There is a hard time limit of 7:00 hours for each marathon. Anyone finishing over 7:00 will be recorded as a DNF." Similarly, the half marathons have a time limit of 3:30:00.

All races will start at 9:30am each day and there will be finishers medals for each race, plus a unique 183.4 miles medal for those who complete the 7 in 7 marathon challenge.

Last year, just 11 bullet-proof athletes managed the 7 in 7 marathon challenge. The overall winner – in 29:59:11 – was Peter Kouwenburg and the superbly named runner Jane Lightfoot (37:09:39) led the women in third place overall. Peter's fastest 26.2 miles was covered in 3:59:54 and Jane's best run took 4:49:16 – both running their fastest on the first day.

The Willen Lake lap measures 2.9 miles with 34m of ascent per lap and is a complete circuit of the Willen Lakeside Park (so nine laps are needed for the marathon) while the Caldecotte Lake course is just over seven laps of 3.65 miles with 39m of climbing around the lake and no riding on the Caldecotte Miniature Railway!

Here's the website you need for all the details of this extraordinary event.

Previous results via the runABC South race listing here.

Photo courtesy Willen Lake on Facebook