Trailwalker 100K

Ana-Maria Green, Holly Manktelow, Jackie Morton and Sian Roberts took part in the gruelling Trailwalker 100K over the South Downs, a well-established event put on by the Gurkhas. They set off at 7am on Saturday and kept going until the next day, finishing in under 24 hours in 23 hours 46 mins, way inside the 30 hours allowed.

From Holly:

Thanks to everybody at the club who has supported or sponsored our team for Trailwalker. Our support crew were excellent, over the whole distance I barely ate any of my food supplies as the food offered at each checkpoint was so much more appetizing. 

I think the lady on the Trailwalker website who described her feelings towards last year's event as 'I loved it! I hated it! I loved it! I hated it! I loved it!' was pretty accurate. The scenery and views were beautiful and the organisation of the event by Oxfam and the Gurkhas was excellent. Conversation between the team flowed freely, I don't think there was barely a gap in the chatter until about 18 hours into the event, (mind you I don't think some people at the club will be particularly surprised at this!) At checkpoint six, a little over halfway I was feeling very lucky to not have picked up much in the way of blisters or injuries but after checkpoint 8 I was trying every pick me up I could think of, first the ipod, followed by mass loads of sugar and finally a few of Jackie's painkillers. 

We got lost between checkpoint 8 and 9, Sian was concerned that we were not going the right way but another team of guys who had completed the event numerous times assured us that we were and as retracing our steps involved stomping back up a hill I was more than happy to agree with them. Anyway we found ourselves walking along a road in the pitch black which was hopefully heading in the direction of Lewes. By this point my feet started to feel like I'd inserted nails into the bottom of my shoes, a minibus taxi drove past and the temptation to just hop in for a few miles was pretty strong!

It was either sunrise or the painkillers starting to work but the last few checkpoints weren't as bad, our original plan was to put on our Trailwalker T Shirts for the finish but this seemed a momentous effort by this point so we decided to forget that part of the plan along with pretty much all the other competitors.

Once back in Tunbridge Wells I went to bed until 3pm, later in the day my Mum showed me the texts I'd sent her during the event. The first four were telling her how far we'd gone so far and talking about the beauty of the scenery whereas the final one simply said 'I'm really tired and just want to go to bed now!' Thanks again to everyone for your support.

From Sian:

Yesterday morning I was seriously concerned that I had put the rest of the team off walking for life, but I am hoping that once the blisters have healed they will have other ideas. As well as echoing Holly's thanks to our support crew and sponsors, I must express my admiration for Ana, Holly and Jackie. By the half way mark both Ana and Jackie were looking like strong contenders for the ugliest blister competition and, whilst many dropped out, they continued for another 30 miles.

No matter how strong the painkillers, I'm sure that Holly's description of walking on nails is not an exaggeration. As well as being one of the few all female teams, I think that we were probably one of the most talkative. On the way home our chauffeur Cheeky didn't have to worry about falling asleep after staying up all night, because Holly was chatting nineteen to the dozen. Unfortunately we won't win any prizes for that, but it did make the time pass quickly. I'd better close now and get some sleep.

Many thanks again to everyone for all of your support and encouragement. Hope to see you on Wednesday but I may be opting for the shortest route this time.