Tag: LDWA

And that’s the end of the marshals’ LDWA 100 event for 2025, with 52 starters and 46 finishers, but as ever, everyone should be congratulated on their achievements. Thanks to Katie and her team, the event ran like clockwork and it was marvellous to see the whole operation working well and entrants enjoying the walk. Those more used to walking hills and pretending they’re mountain goats did find a challenge with a relatively flat course, with the ground being quite firm. I had a rather lovely time and all the volunteers were well looked after and I hope that they all enjoyed the event. The lean got the better of a few walkers, but the LDWA is funding research into this rather sub-optimal situation where walkers can start to lean to one side after a long walk which often puts an end to their event.

Congratulations also to the wonderful LDWA chair, Madeleine, who got around the event in not far short of 48 hours which meant that she went for two nights without sleep. At one stage it looked like she might have to retire, but her natural stubbornness ensured she powered on! I did call Madeleine when it was evident she was walking the wrong way and I’m glad I did that as I’ve been promised a steak bake.

But this was all just the precursor to the main event in three weeks that will have over 500 entrants taking part…. I’m already looking forwards to it!

The number of brave walkers continued, here’s Anne and Vaughan.

Shu.

The formidable David.

Yvonne and Roger, going so quickly that the only photo I had which wasn’t blurred had those bins in the middle….

Chelle running towards the end. Chelle has written big chunks of the route and walked it endless times, so the whole arrangement had extra special relevance to her.

Chelle being greeted by Katie at the end of the walk, with Richard busy writing down his shopping list.

And Simon and Claire reaching the end, as the first entrants back….. So very brave.

And here are the times for anyone who wants to see how they were getting on checkpoint by checkpoint….

This video was taken around 250 metres from the end as I walked out to meet Claire and Simon, who were the first entrants back on the marshals’ event. This pace they’re doing is what they did during the entire event, it is really a joy to behold! Although I’ve told my friend Liam that I can’t be having Simon keep coming first at everything, we’ll have to up our game.

Checkpoint 14 was at Sutton Hoo and this was an opportunity for the walkers to be able to pass through the site and see the historical burial mounds. Well, it wasn’t an opportunity for those who went through in the dark, but they could sense the history.

The checkpoint being set-up and Richard and I took the opportunity to have a look around the National Trust site.

Simon was once again being very brave and he and Claire were the first entrants to reach the checkpoint.

Having a little rest for a few minutes. There’s a challenge for entrants on the walk on how long to rest and recover and then how long it takes them to walk the event. The key is to give the body some rest and take the chance to eat and drink something, but being aware of checkpoint time is also important.

Richard was exhausted at all this walking and so went to the National Trust cafe. As Richard is on a specialist diet, he obviously didn’t eat or drink that, he just looked at it.

Back to the start of the event whilst we waited for Claire and Simon to return as the fastest walkers.

And Peter busy lining something up.

My plan was to stay awake on Saturday night and then get the train home on Sunday night, so that I only lost one night’s sleep. It’s not even sub-optimal, as this doesn’t really feel much of a sacrifice when we have entrants that are walking solidly for nearly 48 hours. Anyway, Katie told me on my arrival on Saturday evening that I’d be taking charge, which surprised me if I’m being honest and I think delighted me…. This is the moving map that we have of entrants so that we can see where they all are and check if they’re going off course. If we see an entrant going wrong, then we’ll do what we can to get them back on the route and to ensure that they stay safe.

This is the symbol of power…. It’s the emergency phone that entrants can ring if they have any problems or difficulties during the event. As this point we had around seven checkpoints open with tens of marshals, along with over fifty walkers out there. We also had a team of drivers at HQ who could pick up any walker who retired and they would also shuttle around closing checkpoints when entrants had gone through and then moving the food and checkpoint items around where they were then needed.

I thought that I’d better calm my nerves before this moment of power, so a three course meal seemed in order and here’s the sizeable starter.

The second course was a hash brown and bacon sandwich.

Then I thought I’d better have a dessert of some apple crumble with custard to just ensure that I was fully energised.

Thanks to the kitchen crew for their supplying bacon rolls with the fat cut off for me, it was much appreciated. Actually, thanks to the kitchen crew for quite a lot of food and drink. And during the night, we were kept busy at HQ and the emergency phone did ring on numerous occasions. And thanks to Pam at one of the checkpoints for the excellent levels of gossip and updates that were maintained. At the main event in three weeks, this is all handled differently as we have a control room, RAYNET provide radio communications to every checkpoint and there are more vehicles and drivers shuttling around. But on that event we will have over 500 entrants taking part, so it’s all ten times in scale than the marshals’ event.

It was all genuinely very exciting, we got the retired walkers back quickly and there was one walker who didn’t retire at a checkpoint but at a church, and we collected him. Food was shuttled about, checkpoints were updated and we got messages on how entrants were getting on. It all seemed to go very quickly and the next day I told Katie, the organiser of the event, how well I’d done, but she didn’t doubt that…. I then refused to hand over the control of the emergency phone for several more hours and then I realised I was hungry and Katie could once again take back control.

Catching up with Simon and Claire just before one of the checkpoints and it was becoming evident the fast pace that they were going at. They were intending to keep this up, as best as they could, for the entire event rather than varying their pace.

By his own admission, Richard struggled to keep up with Simon and Claire on the 100 metre walk into the checkpoint.

There’s a kit check at a random point during the event and entrants have to draw a random ball out and prove that they have that item in their bag. Simon drew out a first aid kit and he was able to produce this, although I thought that we should analyse the contents to double check, he was deemed to have passed. The aim of this process is to ensure that everyone carries the key items that will keep them safe on a 100 mile walk.

This is rather marvellous, this is a personalised Ordnance Survey map for the Norfolk and Suffolk LDWA event and it has the GPX of the route overlaid onto the map. The map has been centred on the event and the front of the map is personalised, so it’s rather a lovely memento. Apparently it costs around £25 which seems rather decent value for something so unique. I suggested that Richard buy a map of his longest walk, but I don’t think they can deal with such small GPX files.

I always like a trip out to a checkpoint and this is CP1 with Sara and the other volunteers offering a friendly welcome. Andy was also here taking photos of all the entrants who wanted a permanent reminder of their bravery in taking part in the event. This checkpoint is 10.5 miles into the marshals’ event and is the first of 15, plus the finish point.

Some of the food options available to entrants, it’s all nutritious and full of energy for the adventures ahead. Well, other than the bananas.

And here’s David Morgan and Simon Pipe, a slightly mismatched pairing in terms that one strides and the one has to run to keep up…..

Richard busy Googling how to fix computers….

Richard is head of PAT testing at this event. Simon gave him the name of Patman, which Richard has rather enjoyed and he mentioned getting himself a cape with that on for the main event in a couple of weeks.

Anyone who needed anything PAT testing could go to Richard and he’d vaguely look at it and bung a sticker on it.