Skydive to Marathon: Rock2Recovery
A 10,000ft jump, 26.2 miles on foot, seven skydivng marathon runners and one cause.
£4,224 raised for Rock2Recovery.
Here's how the day went... and why we're doing it again.
On Saturday 25 July 2026, COBWOB CIC ran the UK's first ever Skydive to Marathon, a single-day challenge event fundraising for Rock2Recovery, the CIC founded by former Royal Marines to support serving personnel, veterans, families, and funded 999 services facing mental health crisis.
The format was simple to describe and brutal to attempt: jump out of a plane at 10,000ft over Old Sarum Airfield, land, get to your feet, and run a marathon to Bournemouth beach.
Seven people said yes. Seven people finished. Together we raised £4,224+ for Rock2Recovery, every pound above costs going straight to the charity.
The Seven
The runners were a majority military group, a mix of serving personnel and veterans, male and female, all seriously experienced and none of them under any illusion about what the day would ask of them:
Brian Dinning
Ashley Mitchard
Billy Brown
Archie Lippiatt
Bili Heasman
Rob Vigar
Molly Wilkinson
Molly was the only woman on the day. She lead from the front, finished strong, and at the beach, was the first to say she was "ready to go again".
Read that sentence and understand what kind of person we're talking about.
How the Day Went
0600: Bournemouth.
Collection from the COBWOB support team, heading for Old Sarum Airfield.
0700: GoSkydive Salisbury, Old Sarum Airfield.
Coffee and briefing. Contact Coffee supplied their Red On brew bags.
Got Waivers signed, kit checked, load out.
0900: GoSkydive Salisbury, Old Sarum Airfield.
The weather held beautifully. Clear morning, gentle wind, textbook conditions for a jump. GoSkydive's ground crew were, as ever, brilliant — professional, calm, and impossible not to smile around.
The 10,000ft tandem skydive was the highlight of the day for every single runner. It was the reason most of them signed up. It was also, we all quickly remembered, only the first hour of the day.
The mood shift on the ground after landing was one of the most interesting things to watch. Adrenaline high, boots on, glance at the horizon, and the collective realisation lands: we've got 26.2 miles to run now.
1030: Marathon Leg 1 begins.
13.265 miles from Old Sarum Airfield south toward the mid-point transfer, on footpaths that handrail the main road all the way.
Two COBWOB support vehicles shadowed the group throughout, one providing rear traffic cover, one running ahead for water resupply.
The sun stuck around. Odd bits of cloud coverage but the majority of the run was hot, exposed, and unforgiving.
This is where the planning came into its own. Frequent water stops. Combat Fuel hydration formulas keeping electrolytes in the tank.
Vehicle transfer at the halfway point.
Group in, quick reset, out for Leg 2.
Marathon Leg 2, 13.3 miles into Bournemouth. The heat was the real opponent by now. Legs were tired, the group was quiet in the way experienced runners go quiet when they're just working.
Around mile 24, something shifted. The group locked in on each other. Whatever was left in the tank went to the person next to you before it went to your own legs. This is the moment nobody plans and everybody remembers.
Around 1600: Bournemouth beach.
Marathon time: 5 hours 4 minutes, the group together the whole way. Families were waiting at the finish. That mattered more than any of us knew it would.
BBQ on the beach, dips in the sea, and every runner signing each other's How to Become a Skydiving Marathon Runner field guides, these were small hardcopy books we produced for each participant to mark the day and remember each other by.
That was the finish. Seven runners, seven finishes, a genuinely happy beach.
What Went Right, and Why
Three things made this event work, and they're worth naming because they're the pattern we'll repeat.
One: The group was the plan.
Running together at the pace of the group, all 26.2 miles, with support vehicles never more than five minutes away, meant nobody was ever alone with a problem. The team lifted each other through the second leg. That's the whole event in one line.
Two: the operational discipline.
Water resupply protocol, med kit in the van, two support vehicles instead of one, route recced twice in advance to prioritise safety over speed. None of this was flashy. All of it was the difference between a successful event and a headline for the wrong reasons.
Three: the COBWOB support team.
Video capture, driving, welfare, and general morale, including an appearance from Frodo the dog, COBWOB CIC's Welfur Manager whose contribution to the team's mental health cannot be overstated.
Charity challenge events are won and lost on the crew, not the participants.
Thank You to:
Rock2Recovery, for the cause that makes any of this make sense
The seven runners, for saying yes to a genuinely stupid idea and executing it with total professionalism
GoSkydive Salisbury, for a perfectly run skydive
Contact Coffee, for the 0800 caffeine that made human function possible
Combat Fuel, for the hydration and recovery products that kept legs moving
The families on the beach, for being the finish line
The COBWOB support crew, you know who you are. And Frodo.
What Comes Next
HTGR was a proof of concept, and the concept works.
COBWOB Community Interest Company is going all in on the "Skydive to" format for 2027.
We've got a diary of "Skydive to" challenges landing across the UK and Europe next year, different distances, different disciplines, different corners of the map, same core idea: pair the most primal high with the most honest slog, package it around a charity that deserves the noise, and let the day do the work.
If you want to be a runner on one of them, a sponsor, a charity partner, or just someone who watches the video and shares the story, the way in is the same. Follow COBWOB.CIC on Instagram and keep an eye on the site.
When the 2027 dates land, they'll land there first.
Watch the full documentary of HTGR 2026 on YouTube →youtube
Donate to Rock2Recovery → rock2recovery.co.uk
Get involved with the next COBWOB event → cobwob.com
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