London 2 Brighton Ultra Challenge

A while ago I phoned to have a chat with Dave and he mentioned that he and his brother James were taking on the London 2 Brighton Ultra Challenge, now this sounded like a great idea at the time and I jumped at the chance to join them!

As time passed and my friends and colleagues were asking me about what my next challenge was and I had to explain that my London to Brighton was not the famous bike ride but actually an Ultra Challenge by foot my great idea seemed to becoming less so!

I had entered and now I was stuck with it I had to do it, no pulling out! I had arranged with Dave that I would leave my car at Brighton Race Course on the Friday night so we had some way of getting away from the finish on the Sunday morning.

Getting my kit ready and making sure that I had all I needed I received a text from Dave, he had a bronchial infection and his Dr. had told him he would not be able to do the challenge, James was still doing it and Dave could still provide transport and support.

At about 4pm on the Friday Dave arrived at my house to follow me down to Brighton to drop my car off, not the best of time on a bank holiday weekend to be travelling through Brighton but we arrived at the racecourse and found the Ultra Challenge banners around and signs to indicate the field that was allocated for the Event parking. There was no one around to advise where we should park so I abandoned my car in what seemed like a suitable place.

4.30am on the Saturday Dave once again knocked on my door to collect me to drive to the start in Richmond, quickly back to his house to collect James and his family and we were on our way to London.

At the start I was quickly registered and make use of the breakfast provision and stocked up on some energy tabs and bars for the first leg of the challenge, a quick visit to the loo and all set for the off.

We watched as the runners in the 6.30 wave left wondering how anyone would be able to run a 100km! then all too soon it was our turn to be called to the start pen for the 7.00am start!

Setting off we decided that the best option was to start slow and get slower, so started off at walking pace along the park and up to the Thames. Walking along with James we chatted about a wide variety of topics including bizarrely the expense management employed by our respective companies, not sure how that subject arose, the other main topic that ran the length of the challenge was how Dave had pulled out!

We arrived at the first mid point rest stop and I realised that James had not been exaggerating when he said that there was loads of food provided on route. A banana, packet of crisps and a mars bar were consumed along with a cup of tea before we headed off to the first main checkpoint.

Arriving at the checkpoint again there was an amazing array of food on offer to keep energy levels and spirits up, more crisps and tea before heading off taking a couple of mars bars with us for the trek!

 The next stage took us to Tulleys Farm which was just over half way and where we would meet up with our families for some food. There was to be a mid point stop again for tea and snacks to keep us going. I think it was as we left this stop that we came across a field with a red phone box in all quite strange!

We headed on to Tulleys Farm and I was aware of time as Amanda had to be home for 7pm to pick William up from a party so we had to be there by about 5:45 to have any chance of spending any time together before moving on.

As we passed under the M25 there is a steep slope the other side, not very long but quite steep and i think this change in terrain did for my heel as I suddenly felt a blister on my left foot and had to stop to apply a blister plaster. We were not even half way yet and I was wondering if my feet would hold up.

The sign advising that rest stop is approaching is actually quite a distance from the actual stop which couldn't come quick enough for me! As we approached the stop Dave and Sam were there to welcome us in, as we turned the corner Amanda was there to give me a much needed boost!

We sat down and found some food to aid in our recovery, as we did a guy at the table gleefully announced that the 2nd half of the challenge was Brutal, nice to know as he wasn't going on any further as he had torn a calf muscle!

The time came and we had to leave to start on the next section, my feet and legs were really suffering now and I was starting to think that I wasn't going to get to the end.

The next stop was Ardingly College which is close to where Ed lives so Amanda had contacted him to see if he would be able to get there to meet us, he was waiting for an Asda delivery but said he would if he could.  As we were walking towards the stop Amanda text to find out where we were as Ed was at the stop.

If Ed had been in his car rather than on his motorbike I think that would have been the end of my challenge, I had already told James that if he wanted to press on not to let me slow him down.

After a few snacks and more tea we left on our way to the next stop, each section was getting harder and I could have done with them being a few KM's closer together.

We forced a Jacket potato and chilli down at the last main stop as we needed the energy, We were so close now that even though my knees, ankles and feet were immensely painful I was keen to not show this as we walked past marshals in case they pulled me out.

As we hit the last rest stop it was a bit disappointing that they had no tea making facilities but it was also getting a bit cold so we couldn't stay too long before making a move for the last 6K to the racecourse.

I was really struggling for the final few kilometres but James was always there encouraging me to get to the finish, this last few kilometres felt like much longer and as we hit the race course with just over a kilometre to go I was more shuffling than walking.

There really was no better sight than the finish line approaching:

So there it was 100km after leaving Richmond we had arrived at Brighton Racecourse 22.5 hours later!

It was definitely an experience and a challenge that I am proud to have achieved but not one that I intend to repeat ever!

Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation of the event, this really was a mammoth task to arrange everything and I could not fault any part of the organisation. Thanks to James for getting me through it, I really would not have made it otherwise.

Thanks to Dave for driving us around and the support during the event, even though he should have been walking with us!

Thanks to Amanda and Ed for their support on the route, especially thanks to Ed for going out on his bike rather than his car! 

Thanks to Anita and Sam for their support throughout the weekend, and Sam for the finish photo above!

Normally I listen to Heart Sunday Breakfast on my Sunday runs or when I am on my way to an event so it was quite strange listening to Jenni Falconer whilst driving home from an event for a change!