Their incredibly tough week-long charity challenge – all in aid of Scotty’s Little Soldiers – came to an end on the Tuesday of BTME as they triumphantly walked through the entrance at the Harrogate International Centre. They were then welcomed with applause and party poppers into Hall M with their trusty mowers which they had pushed across several counties in heavy rain, hail and freezing fog.

The fearless foursome were Mark Hillaby, Head Greenkeeper at Macclesfield Golf Club, Tim Johnson, Senior Greenkeeper at Wilmslow Golf Club, Gordon Irvine MG Golf Course Consultant and David Steventon, a former greenkeeper who is now director of Prestige Garden Services. David’s wife Amy and Tim’s dad Stuart also formed part of the support crew.

David said: “I went into it with no training whatsoever, and after the very first day my feet were in bits so I switched to some proper running trainers. They helped but my feet were still held together with blister plasters. It was agony at times but you just get your head down, take some painkillers and get on with it.

“Walking along we had a lot of cars and lorries beeping their horns encouraging us. Now and again we’d be walking through the middle of nowhere and a car would slow down behind us and stick a tenner at us, that sort of thing really kept us going.