On Aug 23rd my friend Simon and I turned up in Weymouth with rucksacks full of water, nuun tablets, jelly babies and cereal bars. I was a bit nervous about completing this year because I have done very little long distance training. Most of my running has been 4 or 5 mile lunch time sessions.
We walked the first 6 miles to Osmington and then ran the flat and down hill bits until Kimmeridge, that is not actually a lot of running because there are quite a few up hills. The terrain does get a bit easier from Kimmeridge with only a few steep flights of stone steps to contend with, but by this stage the only option was a fast walk. The fast walk then turned to a slow walk as the temperature rose and the steps up to St. Aldem's Head rose.
Last year I took 9 hrs 28 mins, this year 9 hrs 27 mins. An improvement of 0.18 percent, steady I think we can call that.
The event is well organised by the Long Distance Walkers Association, who provide 5 checkpoints with water and some food as well as a pasty and cup of tea at the end. There is a lime limit of 12 hours and this year the winner finished in 5 hr 24 mins
The best bit about the finish is flat grass provided outside the church hall which you can lie down on.
As one of our nearest and dearest said at the end
“Could you have not done something more useful with 9 1/2 hours”
Possibly but I doubt it.