An Inspirational Report of a Dragon Competing in the UK
Trailwalker UK 2007
First of all a big thank you for your sponsorship: we again
raised nearly two thousand pounds for Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
Ahead of this year's race we had all the usual drama of
losing team mates, sweating on getting replacements and so on but by the time
race day dawned we had established three priorities. Firstly to finish as a
team, secondly to have a go at retaining our Mixed Team title and, if all went
really well, to have a crack at the mixed team record.
Our original intention had been to have two girls in our
team but with Michelle Blaydon injured we ended up with Alex Morgan and Peter
Lee running with Jacqui and myself.
Jacqui was a bit intimidated by the prospect of being in a
potentially fast team (apart from me of course) but she was relieved by Alex
asking her what pace she felt we should run at. Her reply of thirteen and a
half hours was an improvement of 3 hours on last year but still 45 minutes
short of the record. Nevertheless it seemed a realistic assessment.
We checked in and had the mandatory gear inspection late on
the Friday afternoon before heading to the pub for some last minute carbo
loading. Alex thoughtfully phoned his daughter and asked how many beers he
could have. The answer of three seemed a sensible compromise between a good
night out and taking the race too seriously.
In bed by 10 we were up at 4 ready to head to the 6 a.m.
start. Despite England
having a colder summer than last year both the check in and the start actually
seemed warmer than the conditions we faced 12 months ago.
From the start our tactics were to track any other mixed
team but run our own race. The splits between check points in the race guide
book were those achieved by the various record breaking teams in each category:
the problem with those of the mixed team was that it was obvious that the
record holders had gone out very fast and then faded. We decided to run at an
equivalent to 12 hour pace and spend between 2 and 4 minutes at each of the ten
checkpoints. All being well this strategy would put us in a position to win and
attack the record later in the race but for now it was simply a case of getting
a good start.
Within the first kilometer we were walking: this however was
deliberate. The plan was to walk all the uphill and run the rest with a view to
be able to walk the last hill as fast as the first one. It was quickly obvious
though that another mixed team was running everything at better than record
pace.
Our team was too experienced to panic and we struck to our own
plan. Each checkpoint was incredibly smooth. Alex carried Jacqui's waist pack
and filled her drinks bottle meaning that she barely stopped moving all day. By
using small plastic sandwich bags we eat on the run and saved even more time.
The teams around us however were not even stopping at all nor were they eating.
We remained of the view that they were making a mistake but at each checkpoint
the gap between us and the other mixed team was growing.
As the day warmed up we reached the 40k point and were eleven
minutes behind. A team of Gurkha officers and two or three other teams of young
guys were also in close attendance.
The first decisive moment of the race happened at the 40k
checkpoint. We were there for less than 2 minutes: we left with the various
men's teams settling into chairs and having a few minutes rest. It was the last
time we saw them.
Halfway to the next checkpoint we saw our mixed team rival.
We could see that their eleven minute lead was down to 5 and over the next
kilometer we reduced it another 20 seconds. The chase was on.
As we came into the 50k checkpoint our rivals were still
there changing clothes and equipping themselves with hiking poles. We didn't
stop: grabbing fuel we ran out ahead of them and then pushed on knowing that
the hiking poles would slow them if they wanted to run hard.
We were now in fifth place overall. Many of the favoured
Gurkha had imploded and only 4 elite teams (all Gurkha) were ahead of us. Our
performance was causing a bit of a stir on race radio. The military were having
problems understanding how all but 4 of their teams were being beaten by a team
including a woman but they were incredibly excited about it. We later found out
that much of the excitement was caused by Jacqui being way ahead of their commanding
officer.
The second decisive moment came at 75k. The sections between
checkpoints had been between 8 and 10k meaning we could run them in an hour:
the stage in front of us was a daunting 14k and held the key to our eventual
finishing time. Get it right and we'd be on target for the record: lose
concentration, get tired or pick up an injury and we'd be off record pace very
quickly. The race book was not encouraging: the required 12 hour pace spilt was
1 hour 41 minutes which we felt was not taking into consideration any fatigue
this late in the race.
In the event the stage was perfection: we ran comfortably
into the checkpoint having taken just 2 minutes more than 12 hour pace. The
record bid was now very probable.
With just 11k to go we set out on the final climb,
incredibly we did it faster than the very first hill of the day. As they had done all day the long legs of
Alex and Jacqui shot up the hill at a pace Clive and Peter had to run to keep
up with. The last hill done we descended to the last checkpoint, just 6.4k to
go now. The Gurkhas ran out of their tents, checked us in and told us that if
we ran we could catch the team in front. We didn't really believe them for two
reasons. Firstly we had seen that they had checked in at the previous aid station
at 4.17 p.m. which was 50 minutes ahead of us. Secondly the final checkpoint
has a view of the next kilometer of the race and nobody was in sight. Clive
however made the mistake of asking Jacqui how much she wanted to be 4th
and spent the rest of the race trying to keep up with her (largely
unsuccessfully).
We maintained our strong finish and soon the finish at Brighton racecourse came into sight. As we entered the
final part of the grass track we heard the sound of bagpipes at the finish. It
was the 4th place team being piped across the line: they just
finished. Three minutes later the pipes were being sounded again as we crossed
the line, arms aloft, 5th overall, winners of the Mixed Team
category, the fastest non-Gurkha team and now, by a margin of 14 minutes,
holders of the new Mixed Team record in a time of 12 hours 35 minutes.
Given that the previous record was held by a crack US
Montrail sponsored team we were fairly happy!
Many thanks are due to our support crew, Michelle Blaydon,
Adam Roud and Natasha Saffery. They did a magnificent job.
Thanks are also due to various other members of Clive's
family who were there (especially his Mum for the champagne at the end) and to
Babs Bukanola who was idling reading "What's On in Brighton"
is his flat, saw the race and charged out on his mountain bike to see us.
But most of all thanks to all of you for sponsoring us: even
though we were singularly focused on the race part we were always aware that
the event only exists to raise money for two very deserving charities.
Now its time to start training for the next one.....
Top 6 Teams:
1. Queen's Gurkha Signals 1 10
hrs 34
2. Gurkha CS 10
hrs 49
3. Queens Gurkha Signals 2 11
hrs 48
4. Queen's Gurkha Engineers 12
hrs 32
5. Lost in Wanchai 12
hrs 35
6 Surrey Fire Service 14 hrs 07
 
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