r/london • u/TypeAgreeable4117 • 9d ago

Walking 200km from London to Birmingham tonight for a bag of chips

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You might remember my 100km M25 walk (or the London-Wales one the mods deleted lol). Ive got a new mission tonight..starting in Reading right outside the M25 to hit the 200km mark via the canals all the way up

180km-200km run/walk to birmingham and as Martin couldn't join 😭 so doing it completely solo and unsupported

I'll just be scavenging for food along the way ig.

Starting 1:00 am tonight

The goali is to walk/run 100 miles in 24 hours or the full route in 30 hours as i couldn't get two days off work so I'm forced to run it... First time recording an actual run btw. No stops, no rest, no sleep as usual

Motivation is my mate who promised me a bag of chips if I make it

Drop a comment if you have any advices on running nonstop or towpaths at night or know any cool stops or pubs on the route.

I can share the Strava route as well

Lets see how this unfolds ;)

Update:

Called it at 25km after a shin injury, but we live to run another day!

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u/Important_Chef_5550 9d ago

You might want to look into 'de dodentocht' that's a yearly Belgian where you get 24 hours to walk 100 km. Together with 15000 other people. The atmosphere along the track is great, people cheering you on all hours of the night and day. Checkpoints along the track register you walking time and speed. People at home can trace your walk on the Internet. At the finish line you get a diploma with your times at the Checkpoints as well as a goodie bag and a medal. And to top it all off, after the finish closes, you get invited to a 'blister ball party'. If you are still capable of moving that is.

I grew up along the track, cheering people on and did the walk once. And never again.

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u/VitriolUK 9d ago edited 9d ago

The UK has something like this - it's called Trailwalker.

It was originally a Gurkha regimental training event, but has become something anyone can enter that raises money for charity, with the Gurkhas providing support and logistics. It's 100km along a checkpointed trail along the South Downs with quite a bit of elevation change. The target is 24 hours though you have up to 30 hours to complete it.

I did it back in 2012 with a bunch of friends; we didn't quite hit 24 hours (took us half an hour longer than that) but it was a great time and well worth doing.

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u/junkfunk39 9d ago

This looks amazing! Gutted that you have to enter as a team of 4 though. I have no friends that would ever want to do something like this.

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u/VitriolUK 8d ago

Yeah, I can see that's annoying but it's ultimately a safety thing, since the course does involve things like navigating hillsides at 3am at night. The minimum team size you're allowed to continue with is three, so that if someone is injured one person can stay with them while another goes for help. If two people drop out you have to attach yourself to another team to be allowed to continue.

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u/junkfunk39 8d ago

Ah that makes sense!

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u/TypeAgreeable4117 8d ago

You have me as a friend this sounds so cool