John and I took part in the London2Brighton 100k Challenge last Saturday morning. We walked over 26 hours this time without a blink of sleep. It was very hot on Saturday and that was why we had to spend a longer time at the check points / rest stops to re-tape our feet as during the hot weather we found more hot spots on our feet prompting to blisters. The muddy paths during the night walk which stretched for few miles after torrential rain had also slowed us down a bit. Last year the weather was much cooler and we finished in 25 hours 18 minutes but this year the weather made a huge difference to slow us down. We could only manage to finish in 26 hours 42 minutes. The organisers have moved the cut-off time from 34 hours to 36 hours to allow more people to finish due to the unseasonal hot weather. I try not to beat myself up that I am slower than I’d hoped but considering the heat during the day and the muddy paths stretching miles and miles during our night walk, I was just so relieved to finish.
I have now done this event 3 times. I have also done 20 Marathons and numerous half marathons and shorter distance events. I must admit that Action Challenge is a superb organiser. If I am to vote the best sport organiser I have ever experienced, my top 5 will go to the following:
(1) Action Challenge
(2) London Marathon
(3) Milton Keynes Marathon
(4) The Race Organiser (Regents Park 10K and Grand Union Canal Half Marathon)
(5) Gade Valley Harriers (Hemel 12 / 17 / 20 miler)
Action Challenge is a lot smaller organisation than the London Marathon but they have done a better and more professional job than the London Marathon organisers. I noticed this year the London Marathon’s standard has dropped mainly because they had got it wrong to estimate how much water runners would need during the hot weather. They actually ran out of water between mile 8 and mile 10. Here in the London2Brighton 100k Challenge, the weather was as hot, if not hotter, as the London Marathon day. All the 8 check points / rest stops had plenty of water. None of the rest stops ran out of water at all. A 100 kilometre event is definitely logistically more challenging than a 26 mile event even though the number of participants are a lot less than the London Marathon (about 2,000 for the London2Brighton and 40,000 for the London Marathon). I highly recommend any events organised by the Action Challenge to anyone. They also organise the events which cater for people with different abilities. For example, people can choose to do the full 100k in one go or split it into 2 days and sleep at the camp site provided by Action Challenge. People can also do half challenge or a quarter challenge.
The catering is fantastic. Being a fussy eater myself, I actually found the food to my liking. I really enjoyed the freshly cut melons, oranges, pineapples and other fresh fruits such as apples and bananas. It goes without saying that there are a great variety of snack bars and they even provided the vegan version which I was so impressed.
I love the direction signages and the kilometre marks. They are just so clear and bright (extremely useful in the dark) and the signages are just so close to each other that it is almost impossible to get lost. For junctions where off-road meeting on-road and vice versa, there were always Marshalls to ensure our safety.
Will I do my 4th one next year? Oh yeah, bring it on baby 🙂
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyazS1855s[/embedyt]