HOLLY Rush is never afraid of a challenge so it is no surprise that for her first race of the season she chose the gruelling Jurassic Coastal Challenge, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

Three marathons in successive days along the rolling coastal terrain between Charmouth and Studland in Dorset is not a soft option when making a comeback, especially in the case of Rush’s circumstances when doctors told her to rest after a virus.

“To say I was apprehensive was an understatement,” said Rush, who lives in Bradford on Avon.

“The furthest I had run since Christmas was 17 miles and that was more like a death march. Since then I had halved my mileage, stopped all speed work and not run over 150 hours.”

After getting the all-clear two weeks ago from the doctor to start training again properly she accepted the invite to tackle the Jurassic Challenge organised by VO2 Events.

“The whole aim of the three days was to use it as a training weekend and basically see how I fared,” added Rush. “I knew my legs would grumble as I just haven’t had the miles in the legs but I wanted to test whether I was really truly over the virus.”

She secured third place overall and top woman over the three days and continues her build-up to the IAU World Trail Mountain Running Championships in Annecy, France, on May 30 where she will represent Great Britain.