On Tuesday the 15th March 2011, 7 individuals set off from Bowness on Solway in their running shorts, to start the long 84 mile run along the complete section of the Hadrian’s Wall, finishing at Wallsend in Newcastle in 3 days time.
The group all met at Wattisham station near Ipswich on the morning of Monday the 14th March and set off for the long drive up to Carlisle. The group was made up of 7 runners and 2 admin drivers. The main running group was a mixture of Soldiers and a firefighter from the West Midlands Rescue team. The decision to run the Wall started back in January when a couple of soldiers decided they would like to run an event but for a good cause. They had heard about the local charity ‘Everest4heroes’ who are trying to raise £200,000 in aid for Help for Heroes, and decided to do an event to raise awareness and funds towards this charity by running the complete length of the Hadrian’s Wall.
As a group we set off from our camping barn in the early morning of Tuesday the 15th march to try and get to the official end (we did it back to front) of the Hadrians Wall at Bowness on Solway. Once at the village we parked up and tried to find the starting point. Once comparing the maps (great start!) we found it by the sea banks. We all posed for photos then the watch officially started and the 7 runners sped off.
The route on the first day started 24 miles west of Carlisle on the coast and ran straight into the town and then straight out the east, past the airport leading to the start of the monstrous hills of Wall. Throughout the day the weather was very wet and when the group was met at the first check point (12 miles into route) there were a lot of high spirits and the team was together besides one member but all with sodden clothing. A few socks were changed, a few hot spots were taped up and a lot of sweets were eaten.
Lunch stop was decided at the 19 mile part, with most members staying there for a quick 5 minutes, getting lots of calories down their throats besides one member who decided that a half of stella would be better, so popped across the road to a nice open fire pub, but even the half didn’t slow down the super rocket that is Tom Moulder.
The final leg of the first days run was a 3 mile killer hill, which involved ankle deep mud and lot of wet grass, but everyone managed to dig in and got to the top where the first section of the wall was there to be seen at a place called Bank. This was our ending for the first day and a well earn’t break was needed, a massive 31 miles was now completed.
We stayed that night in a youth hostel in a village called Greenhead. The hostel was a great facility but everyone was a sleep by 8:30pm! The next morning with still wet trainers, we headed back to Bank for the start of the 2nd leg. Today was the toughest day, it was the day where the day consisted of constantly going up and down and crossing the famous sections of the wall against the back drop of the 100ft cliffs.
Ryan weir (fire fighter) had a very swollen knee today (has a titanium rod in his lower leg from a previous accident) so had to rest today, but the other 6 carried on. The morning sun was out and joy only lasted for 5 minutes until the clock started again and the runners remembered that they had to run again. The route ran along the wall for most of the day, with a large section of the wall in a complete state, just a lot lower in height than 1800 years ago.
The route again had a meeting point at the 12 mile point, were by now the weather had come in and the visibility was down to 100ft and the meeting point was at a very high point along the route. The team was now split with the first 12 miles being mainly uphill with a massive loss of all the height just before the gain again before the meeting point. The flapjack was out for the team and went down well with everyone again taking on a lot of calories and Tom eating all the fizzy cola bottles!
The route then left the 12 mile point and when past the famous point of Sycamore Gap ( where the tree from Robin Hood was filmed) but with little visibility the route could be anywhere and unfortunately the exposure of the famous cliffs were missed but the height gain and loss was felt by all.
The lunch stop today was in a car park near an old fort, here there was a portable 3 wheeler van coffee shop, we gave the coffee maker lots of business with hot chocolates and sean (butter fingers) dropping his coffee twice. Sophie and Alex ended up phoning the admin team up to see how much further we were away, but cheered up when the answer was 100m, but with the weather being so poor, couldn’t see us.
Chief Navigator Dave, then phoned the team telling us he thought he may be off route, a simple error, the path crossed over the pennies way, which also had the symbol of an acorn, had turned off route, and thought after 30 minutes that it was weird that the wall went through thick forests. Someone had to make an error during the route and unfortunately for Dave it happen at this stage of the run on the hill section.
The route then left the car park and had the final 5 miles down to the river near Walwick. When Dan and Rob got down to the finish point, there was a cafe and dived in for a brew and a snack. The group all came in all now with stiff legs and swollen knees and ankles. That night we stayed in a great Youth Hostel in a hamlet called Once brewed, here there was lots of room and cooked a hearty breakfast buffet for under a fiver. That night we were all encouraged to visit the next hamlet along to their public house, were the home cooking was remarkable called Twice Brewed and was a long 100 metres away, but still took 5 minute to walk across.
The final day was now here, with one big hill in the way, which was at the start of the day. All 7 runners started today, Ryan was feeling a lot stronger after he rested his knee . The hill in front of them was so steep that the route zig zagged to lower the gradient, but still was very steep and lasted 2 miles. Unfortunately Alex’s knee went on this hill and that was the end of his running day.
The route was nice on foot and the weather for a change wasn’t too bad today. Sophie and Ryan both were running strong today, and Rob some reason decided to run with Speedster Tom. Dan and Dave decided to partner up today too. The first stopping point was on top of a hill called Hallow Hill, again about the 12 mile point was a well placed stop, where hot spots were taped and more jaffer cakes were eaten. The route then left here and headed into Newcastle, all but one runner got lost a little at a junction, with the well sign posted Acorn signs disappearing. But soon everyone was on route again.
The first point of Newcastle where the team entered was a place called Newburn, which rested on the River Tyne. 7 AABn REME Second in Command came up to Newcastle for the day to wish us well and met us here to say hi to the team as they all ran through. The next stage in the run was the run to Gateshead. The run went past all the famous bridges and the runners now were on their final leg. Here the runners were hoping that the end was near, until they all ran past a large sign which informed them that Wallsend was another 6 miles away.
The end of the run and the end of the Hadrian’s Wall is in Segedenum Roman Fort at Wallsend on Tyne, here everyone waited for the runner to come in. The first one in was Tom, with a great time, followed by Rob, a little while later Ryan came in, then Sophie, with Dan and Dave coming in ready for a drink of water and some food.
Everyone involved in the run did amazingly well and between them have almost raised £1500, The run shows that doesn’t matter who you are, you can push yourself and have fun along the way, with all those who took back will have this to remember for the rest of their life’s. So what challenge are you going to do???
Although the run wasn’t about being timed and was done on a fun basis, the completion was their goal, below are the timing of all individuals.
Tom Moulder :15:33hrs
Rob Meeks :18:24hrs
Sophie Mathieson :19:45hrs
Dan Grubel :23:26hrs
Dave O’Callighan :24:45hrs
Alex Parkin :13:53hrs (day 3 not completed)
Ryan Weir :12:00hrs (day 2 not completed)
