I'm John Owen (Deacon's School staff 1961 - 1989), husband of Hilda Owen (Health Visitor 1981-1993), Dad of Dawn Owen (Dallimore) and David Owen. I'm going to be 70 in September, so thought I'd take a brisk walk to celebrate.....

I am competing in the North Face Ultra Trail CCC race around Mont Blanc. The event covers 98km and 5,600m of ascent (or the equivalent of climbing Mont Blanc and then Snowdon on top!) and has to be completed within 26 hours. The event starts in Courmayeur (Italy), then crosses into Champex in Switzerland before finishing in Chamonix in France. The race starts on Friday, August 29, 2008 at 11:00.

As some of you may be aware, my daughter Dawn has recently been diagnosed with skin cancer so I am looking to raise as much money as I can for The Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma (Skin Cancer) Charity. They aim to arouse awareness; make diagnosis more available (set up Walk In Clinics); and find a cure (support/sponsor research). I hope you agree that this is a worthwhile cause and would ask you to contribute as you feel appropriate (dependent on my success!) either on kilometres completed, or metres ascended!

Details of the race can be found at www.ultratrailmb.com and the results published on this site after the race.

Stop Press, 2nd September, 2008: Having started from Courmayeur on Friday 29 August at 11:00 am, I completed the course in 25 hours and 26 minutes, arriving in Chamonix on Saturday 30 August at 12:26pm. I was 1142nd out of 2031, and 2nd in my category (out of 6 !)The full set of results can be seen on www.ultratrailmb.com , click on "The race"/results/2008/UTMB & CCC, then click on "Tableau passages"/Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix.