Trailwalker 2006

What a great experience!!

We (Paul, Ben, Nick and Tim) set off at 06:00 on Saturday 15th July 2006 from the Queen Elizabeth Park outside Petersfield on a 100 Km walk/run across the South Downs Way and what an experience it was!

Our team name was "Third Time Lucky" for reasons I shan't go into now but all I can say is that there may be a "Fourth Time Lucky" team entering next year!!

The route took us along the South Downs Way the majority of the time only deviating to meet our great support crew (Claire, Annie, Lauranza, Caroline, fantastic bus driver Ben's Dad and my parents who assisted in the medical emergency) at the 10 Checkpoints.

Our primary aim was to finish as a team of four as normally 50% of teams loose at least one member of the team on route. Our second target was getting a time between 20-24 hrs, which with the training and preparation since the London Marathon we'd put in over the previous 3 months, we thought both were achievable aims.

As the leading Gurkha's set off at the front (running the entire 100Km), Third Time Lucky settled into a strong pace, with the team agreeing prior to the event to run downhill sections in daylight hours to help our pace. We passed through Checkpoint 3 on a 18 hr pace, which was good as we knew when it got dark we would naturally slow.

During Stage 4-5 (15:00) trouble struck as Paul (who got married to Caroline on Tuesday - congratulations!) was having problems with his right foot. Unfortunately the injury got worse and Paul had to retire and the support crew upping sticks to meet us 4.5 miles from the Washington Checkpoint. The three of us arrived at Checkpoint 5 to see Paul being looked at by the ambulance team. My Mum and Dad also met us at Checkpoint 5, as it was only a few miles from Worthing, it was a real boost to see some friendly faces at the half way point.

We carried onto Checkpoint 6 which was only a 9.8 Km yomp to Botolphs, near Steyning. This would be the last Checkpoint we'd see in daylight, so it seemed a good time to tend to the blisters for the last time, which by this stage were looking pretty nasty, especially Ben's who had to tape up tape up his right foot! I seemed to get away with not too many problems, just one large blister on my left foot, which had appeared at Checkpoint 2!

We were all looking forward to Checkpoint 7 as we'd been told the Gurkha's would be cooking up lots of pasta! It was a hard 8.7 Km stage to Devils Dyke but very rewarding as we saw a spectacular sunset as we approached the checkpoint. To my amazement Mum & Dad had made it as well, along with Paul who had spent 3 hrs at Worthing A&E getting his foot checked out. After eating, we got straight into our night gear (extra layers, hat, gloves and head torch), as it turned very cold compared to the 30 degrees heat earlier in the day.

Stage 8 was a short stage, only 6.7 Km but it became apparent very quickly that walking at night was never going to be easy or that fast. After being surrounded with fellow trailwalkers all day we suddenly found ourselves on our own with only the odd glimmer of a head torch, so navigating became a major priority, as none of us wanted to walk more than we had to! We arrived at the Jack and Jill windmills at around midnight, we eventually found our mini-bus with two people (Annie and Claire) wrapped up in sleeping bags on watch duties! Both were pretty much asleep but who blames them, I wanted that to be me!

We set off into the night knowing that Stage 9 was going to be toughest as it was a whopping 13 Km across large, open areas of land, which is tough as the footpath can often disappear, then reappear 200 metres on, proving difficult when dark. For nearly 2 hrs we saw nobody and the banter in the team had all but dried up making this quite a mentally testing time as well as physical because all we wanted to do was stop and go to sleep, we had now been walking for 19 hrs straight.

As we approached Lewis other trailwalkers seemed to appear out of know where, giving us a lift and extra motivation to finish the stage. But probably one of the toughest bits of trailwalker was walking the last 1 km of this stage as it never seemed to end, eventually we made it - the end was finally in sight! This checkpoint was the last time we saw our support crew until the finish, only two stages and 12 Km in to go! We set off with the sun rise less than an hour away (03:45'ish).

The last stages were obviously tough but it did seem very uphill for the most part! Checkpoint 10 was a couple of Gurkha's with the clock-in computers and jerry cans of water, so we breezed through the checkpoint, wasting no time with only the finish on our minds.

As we approached Brighton, we started encountering local residents walking their dogs, I remember thinking we must have looked like 'travellers', dirty clothes and weathered face but it didn't matter we could now see the finish at Brighton Race Course. We completed the final furlong (201 metres) on the race course and crossed the finish line in 24 hrs and 48 mins and 48 secs.

It was a great event to take part in as everyone was supporting each other, whether it was the Gurkha's shouting "keep going Sir" or the wonderful support crew ready with food and water at every checkpoint.

Will there be a next time, we'll have to see but one things for sure Ben and I aren't settling at 100Km! Planning has already begun...