Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Summer Training Camp for Chasing Gurkhas



Last weekend the Chasing Gurkhas (Ben Ragless, me, Dan Barrett, Simeon Willis) 2007 Trailwalker team had a training session up in the Peak District. We all met up at a cracking Youth Hostel (Ravenstor) near Buxton with yours truly getting the top bunk, which was going to prove tough going on Saturday evening!

My challenge had been to come up with a 42 mile route with some hills, downhills and hopefully some flats, trying to imitate the South Downs - all with a piece of string! After 10 miles or so it quickly became apparent my route was nearer 50-55 miles, so a more direct route back to the YH was found! Our plan was to run the downhills, flat sections and walk (as fast as we could) the hills. This worked pretty well and we managed to maintain a similar pace throughout the 42 miles, with only changing the map causing delays. The weather was pretty typical....sun one minute, then heavy rain the next but was never really a problem and the scenery was brilliant...

We completed the 42 miles in 11hrs 25mins, which will hopefully stand us in good stead for 14th July. But perhaps the best news is that nobody has reported any injuries, let's keep it like that! : )

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have walked some of that area when running Panshanger Youth Fellowship and I know how hard is the terrain.It took us 2DAYS to walk only half the distance you all travelled. Brilliantly done
Regards
john Strawbridge

Nick Summers said...

Thanks John, we may have done it quickly but I think I'm still recovering! : )

It did seem very popular with young people, as there were lots of school children running in the Youth Hostel corridors around midnight!