Scandal Rocks Adventure Race World

Ever wondered what it takes to win a mountain marathon? These are the indomitable Powell Brothers, winners of the recent Lowe Alpine event and owners of four of the skinnest, most sinnewy racing legs in Britain. But now the sport has been rocked by a scandal centring on the supplements used by the pair.

Even more shocking than these Kate Moss-like pins and their potential impact on impressionable young adventure racers, are the frightening revelations now circulating about the Powells' diet. As they loped away from the final checkpoint on the second day of the race they were spotted dipping into a delicious tub of pure lard. Yum...

For more pictures by Rob Howard, who took the above image, have a gander at the LAMM web-site.

What fellow competitor Tom Leonard from the BBC's Vets In Practice series made of the Powell legs wasn't recorded, but then he was probably a little preocuupied with completing the D course along with his mum Bet, 49. Rumours that lard is to be added to the IOC's list of banned substances are, of course, utterly ficticious.