17/07/2012 - Trailwalker 2012 (Part 1)

Of all the blogs we've written throughout training, this is probably going to be the most difficult. Difficult because it will be hard to put across what we've all gone through over the last few days, not just us - the Walkers but our Support Team too. To make it more manageable, I've split it into parts.

Thursday 12th July 

Oxfam provide us an update on the course. The news isn't good. The recent bad weather has taken its toll. Checkpoint 3 has been closed to Support Crews and Checkpoint 4 car parking has changed making it smaller and further away. Surprisingly, the low lying Checkpoint 6 near the river isn't on the list. At least we can make a plan to carry enough food and water from CP2 to CP4, about 3.5 hours so not a big deal given we've done longer than that unsupported in training. The weather forecast for the weekend isn't looking any better than previous weeks. Still very unsettled, looking like we might get a dry start on Saturday before light then heavy showers persist into the evening before clearing overnight into Sunday. Possibly a small bonus not walking in the dark with rain then?

Friday 13th July

10:00am Mark heads over to his Physio for a little light tissue work and to be strapped up with tape to assist the injury picked up doing the Sandstone Trail training walk. To add to his woes, he's also started with a head cold so isn't feeling particularly great. Mark leaves the Physio with a blue Union-Jack-shaped taping arrangement down his left leg.

12:00pm The support vehicle (Mark's car) is packed with all the goodies, chairs, table, gazebo, cool box etc. and ready for the off. Simon, Martin and Ted are already on their way down. No message from Lee and Polly so it's presumed they have woken and are heading down.

12:30pm Mark and Kate grab a quick protein lunch at McDonalds - Big Mac, Fries and Chocolate Milkshake making Mark feel more like fourteen than forty, just as well as he was a lot fitter then!

4:30pm A smooth journey down and Mark and Kate arrive at the Premier Inn near Havant and the whole team are there and checked in - including Lee and Polly albeit a little worse for wear after a heavy night before at Lee's neighbours during which a large quantity of wine had been consumed (so much for the alcohol ban then!)

5:00pm Lee and Kate set off for Brighton in separate cars to leave Lee's car with all the Sunday gear in, the rest of the team head over to the pub next door for some 'hydration'

7:00pm The team head for Queen Elizabeth Country Park to meet up with Kate and Lee, register and attend the safety briefing. Arriving at QECP, we were greeted with chaotic scenes. Gurkhas directing traffic trying to get in and out who then advised us to park down by the Visitor Centre and walk up. Suddenly things became very real as we drove under the overhead 'Start' banner. 

Tent 1 - Registration Forms

Walking in to the park we found Tent 1 where the registration packs could be found and then meandered down past the array of tents arranged in start time order noting 6am, 7am and 8am we're looking pretty full but 9am and 10am were looking a bit sparse.

Looking at the conditions of the ground and the forecast, we were glad we opted for a hotel and not a tent. 

Its not looking good out there...

Finding Tent 2, Polly set about filling the forms in while we waited for Lee and Kate to join us. As we waited for the Safety briefing to start we noted the white board next to the tent which now confirmed our suspicions - Checkpoint 6 was now closed to Support Crews as well. It shouldn't have come as a surprise given that yet more rain had fallen in the previous 24 hours. Listening to the safety briefing we also found out that for the first section of the trail there would be a cycle race coming towards us but as long as we kept to the left - we should be fine! 

The Gurkhas doing the Kukri dance

With the briefing over, it was time for the Gurkha cultural show. Out came the marching band and the Gurkhas doing the Kukri dance - quite something to watch. It was at this point we got to meet Jon Paul Tom and Olly who were watching the show a few yards away. It was strange that though we've never met before, we already knew so much about each other thanks to the power of Twitter and Blogging over the last 6 months and it was great to meet them all after all this time. 

No backing out now!

Once the show was over, it was time to get registered and tagged. Thanks to meeting our fundraising target, it meant we could be fast-tracked into Tent 3 where the waiting Gurkhas tagged our wrists with our 'Dibbers'. These little devices would be needed at every Checkpoint to swiped in to ensure everyone knew our whereabouts on the course and they would register our final time. We also had our Team Number  - 145. 

So job done and off to queue and load upon pasta cooked by the Gurkha chefs after which we bumped into the BunLovinCriminals who we hadn't seen since the Gurkha Training Day and had a quick catch up. 

With the procedural stuff done and the festivities over, we decided to head back to the digs, grab a nightcap and get an early-ish night. On the way out of the park, we once again passed under the Start banner, The next time we would do that would be 8am Saturday morning and it would be for real  - with 100km still to go. 

See you in 11 hours...

 To be continued.....