A HUGE THANK YOU!

On the sunday afternoon of 13th May my training-widow wife, Caroline, and eldest daughter Matilda were driving me home from Brighton, having greeted me at the finish line of what was for me an epic adventure.

On the Friday beforehand, my three team mates and myself had met up at Richmond Station and walked across to Old Deer Park Gardens to register for the event that we had been training for since January. Now, following several hundred miles' training walks in temperatures literally as low as minus 7 degrees (remember that cold February?) we came together below a small, inocuous banner which read "London2Brighton - your challenge, your way".

The Saturday morning start times were staggered, with runners departing Richmond from 6AM onwards. At 09:45 it was our turn. Following a ten minute warm up with Derek, known to most of us as Mr Motivator of breakfast tv fame, and who lifted spirits as well as warmed muscles), we crossed the line and headed onto the Thames footpath. Action Challenge, who organised the event, had set up rest stops about every 12.5 km and there were main check- and refuelling stops every 25km. The first of these were reached with relative ease: the ground was hard and flat and we made good progress, passing, amongst others, a group of firemen in full firefighting kit, which caused a certain amount of jealousy amongst our wives! We had a late lunch break at 25km, before passing through the final part of South London and crossing the M25 just east of the M23 junction, late afternoon.

At the 53k food and water stop one of our team members, Lee Hurst, was struggling with a major knee problem, but after much encouragement from his father and fellow team mates, he decided to carry on and within a few miles the pain wore off and he was fine thereafter (I should have taken out shares in whoever makes Ibuprofen). Setting off from the comfort of a warm marquee and an endless supply of meatballs was tough around 23:30. The going became tougher as most of the course was now across very muddy fields and forests. Our training had prepared us for this terrain, but it was nevertheless mentally and physically challenging. We were also now becoming aware that our finishing time would be later than we had hoped. As the sun came up we were nearing the 75km mark and the smell of freshly cooked bacon wafting across the fields was fantastic! Unfortunately, another of our team members, David Myres, had by this time also developed a very painful knee and every step from then on to the finish was a real effort for him.

Personally, I found 80-94km particularly difficult. I now wanted the walk to be over as quickly as possible, but could only take small steps and was in a fair bit of pain with every single one. Around 2PM we crossed the last road and came onto Brighton Racecourse. We could see the grandstand and waiting supporters in the distance. The pain and exhaustion was quickly replaced by a sense of relief and achievement which was, simply, overwhelming. Matilda came running down the racecourse to meet me.

This was the toughest thing I have ever done. A quarter of the starters in Richmond did not make it to the finish line, which gives a good indication of how hard an event it was to complete. Our team came about 1/2 in terms of finishing times. Our total walking time was 22.5 hours, although we spent 28 hours on the course. Most importantly, we finished the challenge together and raised over £6,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in the process.

I will treasure my finishers' medal and the memories of the walk. I will also hold dear all those that supported my fundraising efforts. Some of you shared more than just money, but also stories of why Macmillan is such an important organisation. All this will stay with me.

Thank you.

Ph.