The Big Day Part One - The Veteran's Story

So here we are folks. It has taken a while for us to get our thoughts together after the event itself and we all had well-deserved breaks afterwards.


This is Sandra's story...

On the eve of the event we all found ourselves at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, electronically tagged, carbon and fizz fuelled and thoroughly entertained by the wonderful Gurkha bandsmen. The down side was the news that Checkpoints 4 and 6 were closed to support crews due to the muddy conditions! After a pep talk by the Commanding Officer who had run the course (allegedly) the night before we said goodbye to Lynda and Paul (our support crew team leaders) and headed for the Premier Inn for a decent night's sleep!

My 40th birthday dawned grey and gloomy and with the heart stopping declaration by Sue at 4.45am that she had "no shoes"! She meant "no shoes" too! None, nada, zilch.  So followed several attempts to rouse family and friends in Ash Vale to do a mercy mission and bring the shoes down before Sue's nightmare of starting in flip flops came true! Luckily Paul came to the rescue and disaster was averted! Sue also stole my pants but that's another story!!

Fresh faced and dry at the Start

After a Gurkha breakfast we were ready for the Start.  Becky had not slept well due to a neck injury but we were confident that the adrenalin and excitement would kick in and all would be well. The news that Checkpoint 3 was also closed was a blow but one that we could and would cope with. Thanks to Sue's illicit correspondence with Tom from Oxfam and to the massive "I am 40 Today" badge on my rucksack most of the other walkers were aware that I was a veteran!!! After the first tears of the day, with the Gurkhas piping us through the start line, we were on our way at last after all the months of training and preparation. The sense of camaraderie amongst all the walkers was amazing and lasted until the end.  After a thousand "Happy Birthdays" we arrived at Checkpoint 1 relatively unscathed.

A brief stop before tackling Beacon Hill ( the steepest b*gger on the trail) proved to be too brief as we almost immediately had to stop to tend to Becky's first blister. The hill was as bad as Sue and I remembered  but we made it to the top without incident.  As we approached Checkpoint 2 the heavens opened and we walked through pouring rain to meet the lovely Lyn, Emma and Karen who had given up their Saturday to tend to our every need.  Luckily they had soup, cake and birthday surprises for us.  We felt pretty rotten asking them for dry socks, plasters, water refills, etc.  Time was precious and there wasn't enough for the usual polite chitchat!

Vicky tries flying to the next checkpoint

Soon we were on our way again and four became five with Karen braving the elements to walk the next section with us.  We had trained on this bit so we were confident that it didn't hold any horrors...until Karen picked up a blister and then promptly lost the soul of her boot in one of the boggy puddles!!! Karen trooped on whilst we silently thanked the powers that be that it wasn't any of the "team" who had succumbed! Lyn had parked up in the road adjacent to the closed checkpoint so we grabbed a welcome cuppa from the Gurkhas and did some footcare roadside. The girls had made sarnies for the next stretch - right to checkpoint 5 and they headed for the nearest hostelry on the pretext of drying out some of our soaked "waterproofs" whilst having a well-deserved lunch.

Oh good...more rain coming in!

Section 4 is a bit of a blur, if I'm honest.  We had news that Becky's husband, Rich, had pulled out of his team at the next checkpoint.  The rain continued and our spirits dampened.  Close to the checkpoint we were heartened by the appearance of Sue's friend and her children who had come out especially to spur us on.  The checkpoint was like a scene from a First World War drama.  Farm buildings loomed in the murk whilst "survivors" of the first 40km huddled for shelter clutching tea and Compeeds.  Becky's feet were now becoming a problem and despite various protests she declined to treat them.  We soldiered on to the half way stage and it became more and more clear that we were unlikely to finish as a four.  As we got about a mile from the checkpoint Paul and Steve (our night support heroes) appeared to give us moral support.  They were sent to convince Becky that she could finish as we had all planned and that we would help her get through. After a comedy fall (mine of course!) we arrived in the mire of Checkpoint 5.  Cars were being pushed by Gurkhas and hauled out by tractors! Lyn's sturdy 4x4 sat oblivious next to the gazebo blaring out 80s music and full of more surprises (a zimmer frame for me!) and pasta for everyone.

Becky decided to continue so we said goodbye to the girls for the last time and headed out into the unknown territory of section 6 to Botolphs.  Again my recollections are a bit hazy.  The mud was relentless.  Boots, socks and legs were covered making each step harder than the last and it was difficult to stay upright. I know that Becky was unhappy and that it was almost inevitable that she wouldn't make it past the next checkpoint despite our encouragement and my protests that spending the night cooped up in a car with Paul and Steve would be a fate worse than the final stages of Trailwalker!! In the end self-preservation took over and I didn't feel I could use my energy on anything other than getting Vicky, Sue and me over the finishing line. So at CP6 we had to part company with Becky.  It was very distressing for all of us, particularly Vicky who was losing her sister and had very painful blisters. The boys played their part brilliantly and when they had exhausted all means of persuasion tended our disgusting feet without flinching, cutting the zinc oxide tape and applying Compeed like pros. Becky was installed in the car and we three set out again into the night....

The path along the river towards Upper Beeding was treacherous and it was a massive relief to feel tarmac under our feet as we reached the village.  Lots of support crews had pulled up here, giving their teams some respite from the mud.  It was the first real taste of civilisation we had had since we left the start line but soon we were ascending the steep, narrow path back onto the South Downs Way.  Sue and I struggled and had to take several breathers. Vicky had found a second wind and stomped up to the top.  We all took glucose tablets when we finally made it and headed for the hot food and bright lights of Devil's Dyke which we could see for miles but never seemed to get closer. This is where the swearing started and I think I may have broken out the "c" word. Vicky's normally polite self was also taken over by a dirty mouthed stranger as the pain and fatigue set in.  I will never forget the final climb into the checkpoint with the Oxfam volunteers and Gurkhas banging their cooking pots in welcome as we struggled in.  The boys tried valiantly to make us force down the pasta meal provided but it was 2am and all we wanted to do was curl up and sleep.  We had hoped to be able to relax here and our schedule had allowed us half an hour but in the end we were there for much longer - changing socks, dressing blisters and taking painkillers.

Onwards and downward, briefly, before tackling New Timber Hill - a slog in the best conditions. Despite it being very "uneven" - a comment I am not likely to forget we managed to make it and look back on the trail of headtorches following us.  A bit more civilisation crossing  a dual carriageway and passing through the village of Pyecombe with all its residents tucked safely up in bed! The boys had done good this time and had set up with a few other support crews at Pyecombe Golf Club.  We were able to sit down out of the mud and the boys rustled up a pancake for Vicky and porridge for Sue and I whilst also tending to our poor, mangled feet.  If there is a world record for the number of Compeeds on one foot Vicky might have broken it with her outstanding 11!!!!! Our spirits were somewhat lifted but the next section was the longest and we weren't at checkpoint 8 yet! The sun was starting to rise and the volunteers at the checkpoint greeted us warmly.  The massage tent was tempting but if we laid down we might never get up again so we ploughed on!

The sunrise was soon overwhelmed with cloud and a shower or two!! The slog to checkpoint 9 was never ending.  We were all feeling the pain and fatigue now and not to mention the need to pee every ten minutes!!!  We made it to the Gallops eventually and Paul and Steve came into view having left Becky in charge of our breakfast. They had been confident that we would be almost at Checkpoint 9 by now but the conditions had got the better of us and our pace had slowed considerably.  With the boys to spur us on we made it to the 90km mark.  There were lots of tears - so near and yet so far.  The bacon butties and cups of tea provided the fuel we needed for the last stretch and Steve gallantly agreed to walk to the end with us.

Hurray -the sun finally appeared after 25 hours in hiding and we set off with renewed vigour up the last steep hill and through stunning cornfields dotted with poppies.  The crying this time came from Steve's story about running in wet swimming trunks (ouch) and certainly took our minds off our own chafing!!! We were welcomed to checkpoint 10 by the lovely Gurkhas and helped a man who looked like he wasn't going to make it to the finish with the trusty freeze spray. No one was getting this far and giving up!! The last stretch seemed a breeze in comparison to what he had been through. We sloshed through the puddles knowing that the end was in sight.  Paul walked up from the finish to meet us as did Sue's Paul who had already walked 62.5 miles with his team.

Nearly there!!

The Finish line came into view and Becky managed to walk the final 1km with us.  As my children and nephews ran out of the crowd to hug me I realised the enormity of what we had achieved and sobbed like a baby.  We had walked 100km in the worst conditions the event has ever seen and we raised over £6000.  We had been through all kinds of  physical and mental challenges and we had done it!!!

 The sense of achievement is amazing but we couldn't accomplished it without our wonderful families and friends who supported us through all the months of training and fundraising, not to mention the event itself.  Special thanks to Paul, Steve, Lyn, Emma and Karen who gave up their weekend to stand around in the mud and rain, touch our feet and sort our dirty clothes! Thank you to all of you!