Through the 26th and 27th of May I took part in the 100km (62 miles)* Trailtrekker 2012 hike in North Yorkshire.
This was in a single stretch, nominally in under 30 hours** (day and night), as a team of four;
fund-raising for the development charity Oxfam.
| Event Route (click to view) *Actually >105km (65 miles)! **Time to Gold: 31hr 16min. |
Follow our "real-time" progress: Facebook text messages sent en route through the event.
Post Match Report (by Paul Johnson):
Full time results: No sleep 'til Skipton 2 : 2 Yorkshire dales
In a day [sic] that we personally witnessed* maybe a dozen ambulances, multiple rammed medical stations including 1 guy in triage, spannered and shaking on a an IV, more horrifically mangled feet than I've ever seen, literal and copious blood, sweat and tears, all under an unremitting and unforgiving sun, I think the team were lucky to escape with a draw.
*Let alone anecdotal evidence of hypothermia, hyponatremia, sunstroke, Road Traffic Accidents etc
After a heroic battle for 15km with an old knee injury, we lost our first team member, Alan, at the end of the silver stage (officially 65km, my gps recorded 70km)
I pushed myself to my breaking point and then a bit further...... And then I broke.
When my legs gave out in sudden and spectacular fashion up on a ridge 3km before checkpoint 4, it looked for a short time like we were going to need the services of mountain rescue. Thankfully I somehow managed to hobble down to bow out at cp4 (officially 80km, actual estimate is about 88km)
I'm not ashamed to say I crawled behind the checkpoint tent to have a bit of a cry; emotional pain layered on physical pain, sleep deprived, exhausted and utterly, utterly gutted at failing to make the finish line!
Battered, bruised and blistered, Nick and Anna rallied themselves to ‘finish the game’ for the team; and after an emotionally charged, tearful negotiation, hooked up with another team of 2 to push on and finish the 100km Gold section for team No Sleep till Skipton (various reports put this at an actual distance of 110+km) in a time of 31 hours 16 minutes.
Oxfam called it a challenge, they can say that again!
Follow @NoSleep2Skipton's progress updates on Twitter
5th & 6th May: Hebden Bridge 78km total in 22hrs total over 2 walks. 5th May: 28km in 7hr 30 6th May: 50km in 14hr 30 Two slow walks which were very hard mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Now two weeks off to recuperate. 28th April: Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Grassington. 50.5km in 12hr 45min  21 April: Knaresborough Round 35km in 7hr 45min Flat and short(ish) walk, but with a nice pace even through the hour or so downpour. 14 April: Bristol via Chew Magna and Keynsham to Bath 46km in 12hr  9 April: Skipton to Horton-in-Ribblesdale 39.5km in 11hr Team training with Alan, and lots of rain on the bronze section of the Trailtrekker course. That's 10 hours of relentless cold rain. 5 Apr: Skipton to Malham Moor (return) 39km in 10hr 30minThis walk started from Skipton doing Section 10 and most of Section 9 of the actual event route in reverse before returning. This included snow, night training and sheep with buckets on their heads! More beautiful North Yorkshire scenery. 24 Mar: Gargrave to Horton in Ribblesdale, via Malham and Pen-y-Ghent. 35km in 8hr 50min - including one of the Yorkshire three peaks!  Gargrave via the spectacular Malham Cove and tranquil Malham Tarn and
beautiful North Yorkshire Dales scenery in glorious sunshine lead to one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, Pen-y-Ghent before settling with a bit of May sunburn for a pub tea in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Pretty much the first third of the actual Trailtrekker route, minus the first flat bit and plus a big peak. 17 Mar: Ridge Way - Goring to Uffington 37km in 8hr 15min The aim of this walk was to get a bit of team training in and push out on the distance and time a bit. Trained and got drenched in freezing rain along with Paul. 10 Mar: Repeat of Training Route 1 (from 1 Jan), 15.39km in 4hr 10min (including pub lunch!) Also: 18km cycling & 5km run. 3 Mar: Horsforth to Ilkley and Saltaire (via Dales Way) 32km in 8hr 40min 
25 Feb: Blickling, Norfolk 12km in 3hr 10min 19 Feb: Near Stockport 23km in 4hr 30min (in 2 legs) (1) 6.15km in 1hr (2) 16.78km in 3hr 30min a good time but aching feet after all the tarmac which followed a scenic beginning on the Trans- penine trail. 28 Jan: Harrogate Ringway very achy legs and one or two blisters. Trepidation at the thought of doing more than three times this distance with sleep deprivation and hills to boot! 14 Jan: Circular from Horsforth 13.78km in 3hr 15min a clever begging crow (he got a bit of banana for his insistence!) and round back to home at night. 1 Jan 2012: Training Route 1 (Leeds) 15.39km in 3hr to get the winter legs stretched a bit. | £3000+ raised for Oxfam! Thank you for for sponsoring us for this madness. It really did make all the difference motivating us to carry on when we were at our physical and emotional end. The final total can be seen at: www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/NoSleepTilSkipton £116.32 made at the Bake sale on 26 April in Leeds Maths Department!   Thanks to all who contributed by either baking buying or donating. Curry fund-raising event makes £400!  Hope you enjoyed the food! |
