I’ve dusted off my previous page at https://www.julianwhite.uk/ldwa-100/ all about the LDWA 100 to bring it up to date for 2026.
This interview is with Guy Evans and I like who inspired him during Covid! And there’s some great advice here.
Q. Could you briefly introduce yourself and say how you first became involved with long-distance walking?
A. I’m a long-time walker, more recently turned into a sometime runner. I’m an addict. A long distance addict. It started with family walks, then one thing led to another and I entered my first long distance event, the Bath Beat organised by a certain David Morgan at the time. But after a while that wasn’t enough and I stepped up to 50s. I still have the mug from my first ever 50, the Poppyline 50 back when it was held in the summer. Fortunately, the appalling blisters that I also acquired eventually healed! It took me a long time to get my head around doing a 100 miles and I was partially inspired by Julian’s blog posts during Covid to take the plunge. “I’ll just do the one then I know I can do it. Only mad people walk a 100 miles.” Now I’m at the point where I’m wondering if a 100 is enough. So I’m an addict. But I figure there are worst things to be addicted to!
Q. You’ve completed four LDWA 100s already. What keeps bringing you back to the event?
A. It’s iconic. Above all, I love the understated, unpretentious, laid-back, friendly atmosphere. It has a very different feel than other ultra events. As it’s in a different part of the country each year the route and scenery is always new. Finally, I don’t currently need to worry about cut-offs. I plan to do them as long as I am able.
Q. What did you learn from your first 100 that still feels useful now?
A. Not to think about the overall distance. Just think how far it is to the next checkpoint. A very large part of finishing is mental not physical.
Q. How does your approach to a 100 change with experience? Are you calmer now, better prepared, or just more aware of the various little indignities waiting along the way?
A. For sure, I’m more relaxed. There is confidence in knowing I can do the distance and in knowing my kit, what to put in the drop bag etc. But there are always doubts, a 100 miles is a long way. I’m better mentally prepared but due to injury less physically prepared.
Q. What are you most looking forward to about this year’s Hunnypot 100 in Kent?
A. Catching up with people who I haven’t seen for a while, a number of them since last year’s 100. I’ve heard the scenery in the last quarter is good, so I hope I’m not too tired to enjoy that. And of course dodging the heffalump trap.
Q. Are there particular parts of a 100 that you especially enjoy, whether that is the early miles, the night section, the checkpoints or the final stretch?
A. I love the absurdity of the breakfast stop and in particular the full English. That and the beer at the last checkpoint 🙂 A wonderful juxtaposition that somehow sums up the LDWA so well!
I’ve always had a second wind after the breakfast stop that carries me through for a bit, then there is “just” a good day’s walk to the finish. Night sections I used to despise, but I’m beginning to appreciate the stillness more.
Q. What do you find hardest about the later stages of a 100, and how do you keep yourself moving when tiredness starts to take over?
A. The general fatigue. However long the event it’s about 70%-80% of the way through that I often find hard, you’re tired but the end isn’t yet in sight. As to how to cope, I saw a sign on an ultra that really resonated with me: “You didn’t come this far to come this far”. That’s so true. Determination keeps me going, my wife would say stubbornness. In some perverse way, I’m looking forward to that feeling of fatigue. I feel I may regret saying this.
Q. Food can become rather central on an event like this, sometimes alarmingly so. Are there any checkpoint foods or walking snacks that you particularly hope to find on a long event?
A. I’m lucky in that I can usually eat anything. Hot cross buns are a favourite but tend to be seasonal!
Q. What advice would you give to someone taking on their first LDWA 100 this year?
A. 0. You’re amazing for getting to the start line. It’s too easy to get into a bubble and forget that we are all ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
- Don’t overthink it. Just concentrate on getting to the next checkpoint.
- Know your “why”, that could be something worthy, such as setting an example to your young kids or raising money, something personal, such as I want to prove to myself that I can, or something intrinsic, such as I’ll feel so proud on Monday, or whatever. But know your why. Your head is much more likely to give up before your body does.
- There will be lows but remember, it doesn’t always get worst.
- Smile, especially when you don’t feel like it.
Q. Finally, when you look back on the 100s you’ve completed, what moments tend to stay with you most?
A. Great question. It seems somewhat random. Being alone on the Great Ridge in the dark and wind, chatting with someone on the canals going into Stratford, in Scotland summiting a hill at sunset well past 10pm, a pretty river section. Those and the moment around mile 90 where you know, really know, that you’re going to finish and you just need to walk it in. I remember ringing my wife nearly in tears on my first 100 at that point.