REMEMBER the Dragon Trail in Taunton? Well, one man certainly does as he attempted to visit all 31 dragons on the trail within one day in 2014.
Jim Plunkett-Cole, 45 at the time, grew up on the Somerset Levels and is a former Wellington School student.
Jim was trying to complete the ‘triathlon’ as part of a wider challenge to run 10k every day for 1,000 days.
Describing the 45-mile challenge as a "Dragonathon", Jim was optimistic ahead of his run and calmly invited others to accompany him on parts of his route.
He said: “Last year I ran a marathon round the Gromits of Bristol so when I heard about the dragons I wanted to do something similar.”
Jim has been noted for his running ability throughout his life, including both local and national attention.
In 2013 he set himself the challenge of running 10k a day, a feat he achieved in style on New Year’s Eve with a 45.5-mile ultra-marathon around the Green Man Challenge route in Bristol.
More often than not, Jim was always accompanied by his best friend on his runs, a collie called Alfredo.
In 2013, Jim raised a total of £21,000 for four charities.
After completing his 2013 challenge, Jim continued running and about a month before he decided to take on the Dragonathon challenge in September 2014, Jim chose to increase the 10k challenge to 1,000 days.
The Taunton Deane Dragon Trail took place in July 2014, with 31 dragons released onto our streets that month.
All dragons were located across random locations out and about on the streets of Taunton, Wellington, and Wiveliscombe.
The trail raised money for good causes in Taunton Deane as well as bringing more people to our area to help local businesses.
Jim kept friends and social media followers up to date on his progress and the self-employed economist’s exploits have inspired others to set their own physical challenges.
“During the year people had seen that I wasn’t getting slower but had got faster and stronger – it surprised people as they thought I would get tired,” he said.
“I’d love as many people as possible to come along on Saturday for the Dragonathon.”
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