ISLE OF WIGHT CHALLENGE 100KM
Distance - 100km
Location - Isle of Wight, England
April 2017
On April 2017 we completed our biggest challenge yet, a 106 km (66 miles) walk around the Isle of Wight, with a total elevation of ~1960m.
The event was part of the Ultra Challenge Series, open to walkers and runners. Leading up to the event we had covered many training miles, everything was about walking, every step counted.
Before the event, I thought walking 106km was going to be a breeze, after all, it was only putting one step in front of the other, right?! How wrong could I be!
In January I suffered from very painful hips which were due to doing too many miles too quickly. After seeing a physio he gave me some exercises which would help strengthen my glutes and hips. I did these exercises religiously every night, I was not going to let this defeat me.
As we got the ferry across to the Isle of Wight the excitement kicked in and we were ready to take on this epic challenge. We arrived at base camp, collected our packs and set up our tent for the night. We chose to camp as we thought it would be convenient to be at the event on the morning, also knowing that we would have our tent to clamber into once we finished ... this later turned out to be a bad decision!
We both had a poor nights sleep and I hadn't allowed myself enough time to get ready in the morning having to queue for the shower facilities in the morning.
Prior to the event we had practised applying tape to our feet and it was a method that had been working well. I panic when I don't think I have enough time and so applying the tape was a little rushed, getting myself all flustered.
We made our way to the start line a little blurry-eyed and feeling somewhat unprepared for what lay ahead. As this was quite a large event with different distances, 25km, 50km and 106km, we were set off in waves. Tasked with the 100km we were in the first wave.
As with all of these events we set off in a big gaggle of walkers and took several miles for us to settle down. There was a choke point when we had to scramble down to the beach then back up the other side which was a little annoying but we soon got past that point. Our first checkpoint provided us with a pastry, perfect!
Making our way towards the needles the landscape was beautiful, a very pleasant way to start the day. As we approached Freshwater Bay we saw the climb that lay ahead over grassy terrain. We were passed by runners ... thumbs up to them! The route did not take us down towards the needles which was a shame however we have been to the Isle of Wight previously so we didn't feel like we were missing out.
Before we knew it we had covered 25km and were a quarter of the way through!
After a good feed and water, we set off towards Hamstead Farm that would be our next checkpoint. We were feeling pretty good at this point, and we had perfect weather.
Passing the next checkpoint with no issues we pressed on to our halfway point. There was another choke point along this stretch of the route as the path was very narrow, not wide enough for two people to walk side by side, therefore we were as fast as the person in front of us. This frustrated many walkers, however, we welcomed a slightly slower pace as we were going to need our energy in the later hours.
By this point, the sun has started to set and we realised just how long this was going to take. Halfway was in Northwood Park with beautiful steps leading up to a large sanctuary for weary walkers with food, snacks, drink, first aid and massages available.
We rested for around 45 mins to an hour before we popped on our shoes and headed out into the dark. What we hadn't realised was that we had to get a short ferry across a section as we left Cowes. And you guessed it we just missed a crossing, which meant that we had to wait approx. 15 mins for the next one. It wasn't major however in terms of a mental challenge this knocked us a little.
Anyway, we soon got our stride back and heading along the streets before taking side paths which were quite dark as you can imagine. It was mandatory for all walkers to have a head torch and carry glow sticks (these were provided). I was starting to struggle with hip pain by this point but managed it with some Ibruprofen.
Our next checkpoint was in Ryde in school grounds. This is where it fell apart slightly. Kevin has put a compeed blister on his little toe at the previous checkpoint however the blister seemed to have got worse with the compeed. Rather than leaving it, he attempted to straighten it out ... big mistake! The blister popped and raw skin was exposed. What made things worse was that people around us were dropping like flies with a lady very unwell sat right opposite us vomiting. After a visit to the first aid team who helped wrap up Kevin's toe, we made a very slow exit.
It took us some time to get a normal walking pace as Kevin was in quite a lot of pain by this point, but we somehow kept going. We walked with a 'trekmaster' along this stretch of the route which really helped take our minds off the pain and distance. A 'trekmaster' is someone who walks a section of the route who helps walkers out, gives them moral support, making sure we are all safe.
We knew we were fast approaching the next checkpoint however it wasn't where we thought it would be which was disheartening. The route to the checkpoint was taking us higher and we could feel that strong winds were setting in. Not being able to find the arrows into the checkpoint we somehow found an alternative route, either way we had reached the checkpoint!
Oh my days there were lots of people suffering in this tent, it was very quiet with a few people trying to sleep. It was also really cold with the wind howling around outside of the tent. We didn't stay here for too long with only a quarter of the distance remaining ... there was a glimmer of hope that we could, in fact, complete this epic challenge!
Family members had been tracking us from home and had sent us some motivating messages to help with the final section, this was invaluable.
Coming down from the checkpoint we were in a very exposed section, not helped by the fact that it was pitch black. We soon made our way down to the promenade of Sandown and along to Shanklin. It was early morning by this point with sunrise just on the horizon. The promenade seemed to stretch on forever and at this point I let out weak sobs to myself. I asked myself why on earth was I putting myself through this, why did I think this was a good idea. It had gone past being a physical challenge as the pain wasn't going away, but it was becoming a mental challenge.
Approaching the 100km mark we sat down on the pavement, congratulating ourselves of what we have achieved so far. 100km is such a long way! We had just 6km to go, how difficult was that going to be!!
By this point, lots of walkers started to come out of the woodwork or so it seemed. They were marching past us at speed like they had a fresh pair of legs, we couldn't understand how they had so much energy.
We took each km at a time, stopping for a few minutes after each km to gather ourselves.
The final checkpoint was a few km away from the finish. Memorable for me as I chipped a tooth on a Poppet. Also, memorable as we witnessed a guy dropping out. We couldn't understand why he would walk so far then just give up. Yes it was going to be painful, yes we would probably hate every second but we promised each other that we were going to make it.
Leaving the last checkpoint we were in good spirits. By this point, the sun was out and we had been on route for over 24 hours. Seeing the finish tent in the distance we thought we were a matter of minutes away from finishing ... oh but that would be too easy. The route wound itself round, zigzagging to make up the final distance, slightly torturous.
The final stretch was finally in our sights, no teasing this time. Walking up to the finish line was a huge relief, a relief that it was over, a relief that we had done it, a relief that we could sleep!! Honestly, I felt like a walking zombie. We were greeted by very excited people congratulating us, it was a struggle to crack a smile. Looking back I wish I had mustered up some energy for the finish line but we were fighting immense fatigue.
With our medals hanging from our necks we sat for a few moments letting it sink in, that we had just walked 106km with no sleep in approx. 26 hours.
It is as if my feet and my legs knew that their job was over, as every step thereafter was a huge effort, every step was agony. Which made getting into a tent even more problematic.
Luckily we were in our tent when the heavens opened and boy did they open! We had a hotel booked for that night however we were well ahead of check-in time. So we lay in our tent, both very uncomfortable not wanting to move or do anything thankful we didn't get caught out by the rain.
Eventually, we had to muster up the energy to pack up our things to head to the hotel. We literally bundled everything up in the car as fast as we could, looking back it was very funny but not at the time. The tent was pushed into the car like a balloon! My feet were so swollen I couldn't fit normal shoes on which made driving a fun task!
This was a huge challenge for us but also one that we completed!! Maybe one day we will tackle such distance again.
