After months of training (well, for some of us...), the big day arrived on Saturday 16th July. Thankfully it wasn't scorching hot - that would have been a nightmare.
Instead it rained constantly all through the Friday night while we camped at Queen Elizabeth Country Park. We joined hundreds of other walkers at the 8.30am start line, to be told by the announcer that the rain would continue until early evening, and then start again about 4am - to which the whole crowd cheered! 'Bring it on!' we laughed.
Little did we realise how tiring it would be getting thoroughly soaked for hours and walking in waterlogged shoes. We waded (or tumbled) through mud. Flat stretches which should have been easy now required short shuffling steps to avoid falling - not very kind on the leg muscles. We started taking much longer than planned at Checkpoints - lots of changing of clothes being needed. And we got a call after Checkpoint 2 to say the TrekAmerica van got stuck in the mud, and 8 strangers had to help push it out! Thank goodness those Trailwalkers are a friendly bunch!
There was a great atmosphere with lots of encouragement from wonderful Gurkhas and Oxfam volunteers at the checkpoints (so nice being high-5'd as we went into one checkpoint!). It was great to talk to lots of other Trailwalkers we met along the route too (at least in the daylight stages, before we hit energy conservation mode).
We didn't see many non-Trailwalkers on the route (why go out in that weather if you didn't have to!) and thankfully not too many bikes - although I did get knocked in the chest by a cyclist in Stage 1 (no he didn't fall off his bike or even slow down to apologise!).
We were very lucky as the rain stopped in the early afternoon, and we began to enjoy the walking. It was all going swimmingly (no pun intended). We had walked the first 6 stages ahead of or on schedule for a 24hr finish, although maybe 25hrs as we were taking much longer breaks than planned. And who can blame us, because it was lovely to reach the Checkpoints and see our Support Crew of Andy & Keith and enjoy a bit of banter (in the early stages) and/or have them run around attending to our every need while we collapsed into camping chairs and tried to find the energy to stand again (in the later stages).
Then we left Checkpoint 6 (just over 60km), around 11pm on Saturday night with our head torches aglow. The steep hill early in Stage 7 practically finished me off and with increasing pain in my left knee (downhill) and right thigh (uphill), I walked a long lonely stage in the dark with a half-broken phone, fearing I was 40 minutes behind the rest of the team in reaching the checkpoint. I had made up my mind I would have to drop out when I reached CP7 at Devils Dyke around 1.45am, sure that the boys would already be rested and ready to start walking the next stage. Thankfully they were not too far ahead and all needed more rest after a difficult stage for all of us. Keith wrapped a duvet around me and told me to sit down while I thought about it. I shed a few tears as I realised I had to go on!
We all knew beforehand that 70km was the crunch point, and once we passed that, there was no going back. There was no question now that we would all battle on to the finish, despite our growing catalogue of aches, pains and blisters! Who knows our combined usage of Ibuprofen pills and gels (not to mention knee support and walking poles for some). We stuck together more in Stage 8, another slower stage, but dawn was breaking as we reached the twin windmills of Jack and Jill at Checkpoint 8 which gave us all a real boost.
Somehow we walked the interminably long Stage 9 on schedule, despite very muddy conditions and the overwhelming desire to take the weight off our feet. We then said our farewells to our Support Crew at Checkpoint 9 knowing the next time we saw them would be the Finish line at Brighton Racecourse. We thought we might be spurred on to a quick time for the final short stages 10 & 11, but by now it was becoming a struggle! Jon's hip was agony. Matt thought he might have a stress fracture in his foot. Even Rich was admitting to some aches and pains at this point! At the mini Checkpoint 10 most people barely stop - we slumped on the grass for about 15 minutes, apparently 'soaking up the atmosphere'.
With 3km to go a Gurkha told us it was only '25 minutes slow walking' to the Finish (it took us another hour). But we finally approached the Finish line, completing 100km in 27h 27m, relieved and so happy at what we had achieved.
Since the event we discovered that only 52% of teams completed as a full team of 4 within the 30 hour time-limit, and we're so proud that we were one of them. We all agreed it was the hardest thing we have ever done. I don't think any of us could have done it alone, but with the 6 of us working together we battled through our tiredness and injuries with sheer determination and lots of teamwork. It was lovely to hear from our friends & family during the route, and even have Matt's parents walk with us at one stage!
It was hard going at times but we also shared a lot of comedy moments together, and is something we will never forget. In the process we raised nearly £3k for Oxfam & the Gurkha Welfare Trust, thanks to the wonderful support we had from family, friends and colleagues. Thank you!!!
Trailwalker was such a well organised event and an amazing experience that we would recommend to anyone. So would we ever enter Trailwalker again? "Never again!" we agreed, lying on the grass after the finish. But then talk turned to considering what the next big challenge could be..........???
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| We did it! Team TrekAmerica stay awake a little longer in order to celebrate (Keith, Rich, Jennifer, Matt, Andy & Jon) |
