“It’s your Dad, I think he’s dead!”
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| Dad & I |
I
had been expecting a call like this from my mother at some point during the
Spring of 2009, but regardless, the phone call that night still came as a
shock. An ambulance was on its way to the family home and I told my mother I
would come across straight away. I grabbed my lad out of the bath, dressed him
and we headed out the door. I arrived after dropping the lad off on route to
find the paramedics in the front room trying to resuscitate my father who was
lying on the floor. They had arrived quickly and had being trying for around
20minutes, but to no avail. Lots of things crossed my mind at that point but I
do remember two vividly. Firstly my father had stated he did not won’t to be
revived (he had pulmonary fibrosis from years of working on building sites), he
had come home from hospital to die and had accepted his fate with grace.
Secondly, was the love of life that my father had always had. Even in his last
few days at home he spent hours watching birds out of his window visiting the
garden; which he classed as far more interesting than anything on television
(well apart from Coronation Street!). Also one of the last conversations I had
had with him he just looked at me and said “Son, you should start to run again.
Running always made you smile.” At that point I hadn’t ran for around 13 years.
I had been an amateur club track athlete and given it all up with the excuse of
that “life is just getting in the way”. A few weeks later after my father’s
funeral I started to run again.
Those initial running steps I took in the
summer of 2009 were the first on what has become an incredible
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| The Paddy Buckley Route |
journey for
myself and 2 years later on Friday 3rd June 2011 I found myself
going through a check list. Mmmm 5 pairs of Innov-8’s, check, 5pairs of socks,
check, Hagloff waterproof, check, selection of Buffs, check, various vests and
shorts, check, ridiculously tight skins, check, Nuun tablets, check, daft amount
of food, check, beach wear & surf board, check, 80’s disco shirt, check,
Rave t shirt, check, bikers jacket, check and last but not least bow tie and
dinner jacket, check. All this can only mean one thing…it was time for my Paddy
Buckley Round…with themed fancy dress road support points J
I had spent a lot of time doing reccie runs
over the Paddy route with my friend Tracy (Aka The
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| Tracy Dean aka The Fell Fairy |
Fell Fairy http://tracymdean.blogspot.co.uk/)
over much of the spring of 2011 and in between eating, moaning about my latest
ankle twist and just going oooooohhhhh and aaaaaahhhhh at the scenery we had
talked a little bit about my Paddy attempt scheduled for the 4th
June that year. One of our random conversations brought up the subject of
adding a little bit of fun to the attempt for those involved as well as myself
and before you could say “I’ll have another Cornish pastie please” the idea of
having themed road stops was born. So a plan began to formulate in the empty space
between my ears and it went something like this; Nantmoor was going to be a
beach Party, Pont Caer Gors was to be a 70’s/80’s disco, Llanberis was Rave,
Ogwen was a Biker Party theme and Capel was a black tie finish. Brilliant!
Although this sounds a little bit odd, for me it was perfect planning as it
took away the enormity of what I was planning to do; run a sub 24hour Paddy
after only being running for a couple of years.
So that Friday morning I loaded everything
in the car and Tracy and I
 |
| Outside Petes Eats |
were heading to North Wales pretty much on schedule
(which for those who know me is a remarkable achievement in its own right!).
The weather forecast had been viewed diligently all week and most excellent
conditions had been forecast for the weekend, and by the looks of things they
were spot on. My attempt at the Paddy had been scheduled for an 11am start on
Saturday the 4th from Capel Curig, so the plan was to travel down
the day before and relax. I had arranged to meet Gaynor Prior (Lakeland L100
Winner & Cesaers Camp Winner Record Holder http://shoeaholicsguidetorunning.blogspot.co.uk/)
and her husband Dave in Llanberis on the Friday afternoon for a preplanning
meet.
They
had very generously offered to do all my road support for me! Which just
emphasised to me what a fantastic couple they are and also that they are just
ever so slightly bonkers. So in Pete’s Eats the maps were laid out and all the
road stop points were marked whilst eating large platefuls of spag bol with
chips and garlic bread, all washed down with a local beer, mmmmm. After about
an hour (Poor Dave; during this time he was sat out in their van looking after
their “lad” Albert…..Albert being the infamous fell running English bulldog,
often spotted at the top of “Skidpaw” in the Lakes!) we said our good byes and
arranged to meet at Capel Curig in the morning.
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| Gaynor and just some of the supplies! |
It was onto Lyn Gwynant campsite for Tracy
and I, as I had chosen this as base camp for my attempt, as from my perspective
it looked reasonably central for people to camp and be ferried to and from for
the various legs. So in no time I duly started to erect the tent ready for
tomorrow whilst Tracy carried on with the important task of playing her Ukele
and drinking cider (ermmm I mean carb loading!).
I had just completed the task when Jon
Whilock (Paddy, Bob & Ramsey Completer) came across and said “O you’ve
camped here have you, we are over there” said he pointing to
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| Tracy Carb loading |
150 yards away. Ha,
so much for the one big base camp. Never mind though, as I was not staying in
the tent tonight anyway. I had booked a room in the Royal Goat in Beddgelert.
Well I thought I may as well have a bit of luxury the night before as I could
get an early night in the comfort of a posh hotel and emerge all rested and
raring to go the next day. So we arranged to meet Jon at the Hotel for a “half”
later that night. After I had booked in I noticed that Tracy’s “carb loading”
was going well; so not one to be left behind I thought I’d better crack on and
start my “carb loading” routine. I must
admit I think we both did a truly excellent job of it. Even when Jon turned up
later I could tell he was impressed and secretly worried that with all my carb
loading he would not be able to keep up with me over the Moelwyns. This was
clearly emphasised by him telling me to
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| Tracy & Ukele |
not drink anymore and not to let anyone
else buy me any more beer. However, upon quick consultation with another
support runner Bryan Carr (Paddy, Bob & Ramsey Round Completer), and Doctor
of Medicine of some repute I was assured that my Guinness was most excellent at
“Carb” loading. Mmmmmm Jon’s gone…..to
the bar then J. The evening was rounded off by Tracy serenading the 3rd
floor of the hotel with her Ukele. However, all good things must come to an end
and I was tucked up in bed by a respectable 1am.
Saturday morning I was woken with the sun
pouring its bright rays into the hotel room, this is it, this is the day, I
thought. Well I’d better get a move on then. So it was down stairs for cereal,
more cereal, juice, lots off, toast, a full English breakfast, more toast,
croissant and a pot full of tea. Tracy had a more Lady like breakfast of
healthy fruit whilst eyeing up a nice Mulberry bag across the table. Brilliant
I could face the day. Gaynor had sent me an email with lots of useful ultra
running tips on, so it was time to put some of these into action. A large pot
of Vaseline was produced and I went to work......
So it was 30 minutes before the start time
and I turn up at Capel Curig greased up and wearing my skins with a big floppy
hat….my, I’m so fashionable. We met in the National Trust car park behind the
Pinnacle Café and Joe Browns climbing shop. It was fantastic to see so many
people who had turned up to support me on
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| Fashionable me! |
the forth coming leg or to just watch
me start. Jon Whilock and family, George Bate, Simon Reed (Bob, Paddy &
Ramsey Round completer) and family, Dave Harrison, Bryan Carr and family
(including Holly the fell Collie), Den & Dale Colclough, Mike Perry, Shane
Godrich , Dickie, and Gaynor & Dave
equipped with an air horn!
At 11am myself, Jon, George, Dave, Bryan
and Hollie were off. It was down the road in glorious sunshine, through Plas y Brenin
car park and then up through the wood to start the ascent of Moel Siabod. In
the woods much to the dismay of George, I started to use my poles. Four weeks
previously I had badly torn my ankle resulting in an afternoon in hospital,
with x rays and lots of prodding…ouch. Nothing was broken but there was
extensive tears and bruising on both side of my right ankle so to help take the
strain off it I had decided to use poles and had purchased a pair of Black
Diamond Ultra Poles from Racekit (www.racekit.co.uk).
I had never used poles before but they really did help with the ankle so I was
going to take them with me on all the legs….besides I’d got George to carry
them when I wasn’t using them ;) By the top of Moel Siabod it really was
evident it was going to be a hot sweaty run across the Moelwyns. I was reminded
on the way up to keep drinking at least every 20 to 30 minutes, I had decided
on this leg to drink nothing but nuuns as I am a hairy monkey and due to the
heat I knew I would sweat a lot. The leg was going by fantastic. Chief
navigator Dave Harrison was doing a brilliant job and Jon was keeping a beady
eye on pace (I had decided on a 23:30 schedule). By the time we were at Cerrig
Cochion we were 5minutes up on schedule which I was pleased about as I had
“tweeked” my ankle on the run to it and was muttering some anglo-saxon
terminology under my breath. The run from Allt fawr to Moel Ddu was breath
taking. I love the remoteness of that part of the run with the stillness of the
small lakes.
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| In the Moelwyns on a Spring Recce |
It
was at this point that all of my support crew bar 1 also swerved off to fill
their water bottles. I had not realised at the time but due to the 26-27 degree
temperature everyone was drinking far more than they had calculated on and even
at this early stage the risk of dehydration was becoming a problem.
They had kept this worry hidden from me
though and assured me they would catch up very quickly. In the quarries we were
met by Dale, Simon and Mike who had decided to join us for this last part of
the leg before continuing on with the next to get a few extra miles in (at the
time Dale was training for the Lakeland 100 and Simon for his Ramsey Round). It
was good to see them all along with fresh faces and fresh smiles we were soon
heading up Moel Ddu. We got to the top 14minutes up on schedule. It was then
into the Moelwyns proper all went well except for the run Craigysgafn to
Moelwyn Mawr where I had another ankle moment and lost 6 minutes on the
schedule. Right it’s just Cnicht then an easy run in I thought to myself and
some ice cold drinks J With that in mind another 4 minutes was clawed
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| Cnicht Spring recce, George begging Chocolate of Tracy! |
in going up Cnicht.
Then the run in began. My road stop was at the National Trust car park so there
was the 1.5mile or thereabouts road section to run at the end of the track. I
was met at the bottom of the track by Gaynor wearing a bikini over her running
kit and some flower necklaces with Orange juice in hand for me. Brilliant it
was beach party time at Nantmoor. I walked with Gaynor for a while whilst
drinking my orange juice before her Sensei voice kicked in and told me to start
running again. I got to Nantmoor 11minutes up on schedule but more importantly
I was greeted with a fantastic sight of a make shift beach set up. Deck chairs
with water wings, mini surf board, wind break, bikini clad women (albeit over
running kit). Haha it was just brilliant, all thoughts of tiredness or possible
dehydration vanished from my mind. I finished the first leg feeling great.
Although later Gaynor confessed when everyone saw me initially they thought “O
hell, he looks awful” haha, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
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| Beach Stop! |
Dave Prior served me up some of his home
made spag bol, it was gorgeous and a whole bowl soon disappeared. I’ll state at
this point Dave is a most excellent cook and over the last few years I’ve been
fortunate to munch down on a few of his creations. I was also handed some cold
flat coke which was fantastic at washing the spag bol down with. And whilst
that was going on they had made me a cup of tea (funny how you always crave tea
after long runs…well I do), I tried it, mmm perfect and just the right amount
of sugar I said. Dave and Gaynor looked at each other a bit wide eyed but said
nothing. It was not until later they told me they had put 8 sugars in it!!!! Haha.
Suddenly the beach boys music stopped playing and my 10minute warning came on.
Gaynor had also done a themed music playlist for each stop but at 10 minutes
warnings came on to get my backside up and
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| The Pain!!!!!! |
running otherwise I would be subject
to Noddy Holder and Slade! Bryn Banog had my name on it, so without further a due,
Simon, Dale, and George were joined now by Tracy and we all set of at a trot.
The sun was still beating down and
temperatures were still high even though it was now going into early evening.
We left Aberglaslyn woods and came out to make our way across to the lower
slopes of Bryn Banog. I was at the back of the team as they merrily chatted
away up front. At one of the field boundary’s the team started to
circumnavigate a small incline but I didn’t follow them. I was just in my auto
pilot stage from doing my reccie runs. I normally swung to the East of this
mound and not the West so off I went to the East. When we hit the lower slopes
of Bryn Banog I had emerged some 2-300metres ahead of the team. Theoretically
great for reducing my effort over distance, but practically and actually not so
great. I had removed myself from my water sources as I wasn’t carrying any
myself, not very clever of me given that I was sweating heavily and was
starting to feel quite thirsty. I was annoyed with myself and barked back at
the team about getting some water. As soon as I done it I felt awful. These people
are my friends who have willingly given up their time and travelled to Wales to
help me get around these mountains and achieve my goal. What a complete
immature selfish diva I had been for that moment barking orders. I sat down on
the slope thinking to myself what a plonker I was whilst Dale trotted up the
slope to me with some water. Dale handed me the water as I immediately
apologised to him for my outburst. Dale is a very experienced UK fell runner
and has helped out on countless Bob Graham Rounds (an excellent navigator on
any of the BG legs) and with all this experience and knowledge he knew straight
away that my outburst had just been an anxious panic moment. As soon as he said
this I knew he was right, on some level I was worrying about the end result of
the journey rather than just enjoying the point where I was, the right here
right now moment. So with just a couple
of sentences from the wise man of the hills I had come back down to earth and
felt grounded although still quite sheepish. I apologised to the rest of the
team for being a plonker as we all made our way together to get up to the
summit point. It was an incredibly beautiful evening with a clear blue sky
 |
Tracy dress for the
Typical weather on a n Y Garn Recce! |
and
fantastic views. I had done this leg a few times with Tracy on training runs in
Wales. I used to rave on to her how beautiful this leg of the Paddy was and on
every occasion the weather had been claggy/foggy with no great views at all.
I remember saying to her it will most
likely be perfect on the day of my attempt just when you can’t stop and take
5minutes to take everything in. And low and behold it was. By the time we had
run across to Y Garn the last mountain on this legs hit list the sun was
setting and the evening was drawing in. We descended at a steady pace and
entered into Beddgelert Forest and I steadily plodded along the forest tracks
to the next road crossing. A few of the crew trotted on ahead to let the road
support know we were on our way. As I rounded the last bend I nearly doubled in
laughter on top of a grass mound were 2 of my next two support runners Shane
and Richard they were gyrating to some 70’s music whilst dressed in afro wigs,
big sparkling sunglasses and completed by dodgy shirts and ties! Brilliant.
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| Albert resting before the 70's Disco! |
Gaynor & Dave had got the pit stop
sorted for me like a super-efficient formula 1 racing crew. Some 70’s Disco was
blaring out, Dave was being Matre D and asking what I’d like to eat and drink.
“Any more Spag Bol & Coke?” I enquired. “Certainly Sir” came the reply ha.
Gaynor had got my new sock and shoes ready, whilst disco Shane and Dickie were
sorting my gear out. First class service all around. We were expecting another
support runner at this point to help us Nav over the Snowdon leg. But alas no
sign of him yet, “not too worry though” I thought as I knew I knew the leg well
enough to nav myself. I just needed to engage the brain. Just as we were about
to set off a car came driving into the Pont Caer-gors car park in a cloud of
dust and out jumped Iain Ridgeway. I had forgot that we were up on the schedule
by around 22 minutes so no wonder we had nearly missed Iain. It’s a good job
that he WAS actually arriving early. Ever the efficient mountain runner though,
Iain had in no time got his shoes on and grabbed his rucksack and was alongside
us in the blink of an eye.
Once
again it wasn’t long before we were all nattering about bits and bobs and
within no time we had ascended Craig Wen in 18minutes quicker than had been on
the schedule! I was 44 minutes up at this point.
 |
| Iain Ridgeway & Clive ascending Elidir Fawr |
I was a little worried that
perhaps I was travelling a bit too quick, but I felt ok so decided that I’d
just go with the flow and see what happens. The ascents up Yr Aran and Cribau
Tregalan went well and once again we just pipped under the scheduled times. It
was about here though that the weather started to change and the clear sky that
had been with us gave way to a low cloud base coming in, along with an increase
in the wind a little. I remember cooling down quite rapid with the change to
night time. So it was time to get the
trusty Hagloff on and march up to Snowdon’s summit. At the summit visibility
had dropped down to around 20 metres but the paths are well defined so it
presented no problem. We descended from the peak with Iain leading the way to
Carnedd Ugain (Crib y Ddysgl). At the trig the visibility hadn’t improved so
Iain took a compass bearing as we were travelling “off piste” from here to pick
up the Snowdon Ranger Path. A few minutes later and boom, Iain had led us on
the path and down we trotted to then ascend Moel Cynghorion. From there on in
it was easy running over the last few peaks to Moel Eilio. As we started the
descent from this final peak of the Snowdon leg the twinkling lights of
Llanberis at 1.30am could be seen. Which was fitting as the next stop was also
about twinkling lights; it was the Rave theme
J.
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| Glo hoops abound at the Llanberis pit stop! |
As I scuttled into Llanberis at around 2am
I was once again chuckling to myself. I was greeted by a load of hooped glow
sticks around the support van with Rave music blasting out and Gaynor, Clive
and Tracy wearing day-glo leg warmers and skirts (although I think Clive opted
out of the Skirt wearing) ha. Jon Whilock was also ready and waiting but wasn’t
as keen on the day-glo look. Tracy had convinced him to at least wear a glow
stick which he did and duly covered up with his sleeve. Once again the pit stop
crew were amazing. Iain had run on ahead to let them know I was coming so
everything was ready, food, drink and my own rave T-shirt. Just before Noddy
Holder started to blare out of the music system I was off on my way to ascend
the Glyders leg. My support runners for this leg were Jon, Clive, Iain for the
first few ascents, and also joining us was Sarah Ridgeway and Brian Carr. We
were missing Bryan though, no one seemed to know where he was (I later found
out he was in the car park around the corner from us and wondering where we
were!). I remember chatting to Sarah saying that we had another collie coming
along to join her and Iain’s 2 dogs for this leg. But alas Hollie the Collie
was going to miss the nightlife on the Glyders.
The Glyders leg of the Paddy route was
really my make or break leg. I knew that if I could get through this leg fine I
would complete the round. It’s never been my quickest of the legs when I was
doing the
 |
| Glyders recce and those rocks! |
recce’s. I don’t think even when I was fresh I ever made it from
Glyder Fawr to Glyder Fach in the scheduled 16 minutes. Obviously the dodgy
ankle going into a night section over probably the most rock infested of the
Paddy legs didn’t help; I knew I wasn’t going to be fast and I was glad to have
the extra time I had gained earlier on in the bag. About half way up the first
ascent to Elidir Fach tiredness also started to
 |
| Blah! |
affect me. I think the
combination of the exertions so far plus the changes from my usual sleep
pattern zone were beginning to build up. It was also around this time that my
ability to eat was beginning to reduce. I have a vivid memory of trying to eat
a cheese and onion sandwich on the way up Elidir Fach and not being able to. In
the end I managed to discard the filling and just eat the bread and butter. It
was a bit of a task so I decided to switch to gels for the rest of the leg. Clive
then became my right hand Gel man. At the base of each summit ascent he would
hand me a gel already open and ready to consume. John was back into time
keeping duties whilst Sarah and Iain were undertaking the navigation. There was
still quite a bit of swirling night cloud around as we ascended Elidir Fawr.
But there was no hesitation with the navigation and we were on the descending
path from Elidir Fawr with no problem heading towards Mynedd Perfedd. Despite
my looming tiredness and my impression of Tom Hanks in “Big” when he tastes
Cavier (except in my case it was the onion), I had only lost 2 minutes on the
first two peaks of this leg over a 72minute period. However, looking at my
schedule afterwards I then went onto lose 10 minutes over a period which should
have taken me 27minutes! Looking back now I would say that the short ascents to
Mynedd Perfect and Foel Goch were my lowest energy points. I was also being
very cautious about my ankle. I knew I was tired and that is normally when my
concentration levels drop and accidents happen. In no uncertain terms Jon told
me at the summit of Foel Goch I was losing time and that I
 |
| Up in the Glyders at sunrise. Photo Sarah Ridgeway |
needed to get my act
back together again. He was right, so I decided it was time for my ipod. I
probably lost a couple of more minutes with faffing about trying to unwind my
ear plugs and getting it set up but pretty soon I was skipping along at a reasonable
click dancing around rocks to the sound of “Korns Greatest Hits”. I ascended Y
Garn only being a minute of my schedule time. I was now feeling more energised
and raring to go for the rest of the leg. So Jon, Clive Sarah and myself
pressed onto Glyder Fawr (Iain had dropped back done to Nant Peris at this
point to get some well-deserved sleep). Sarah took us up to the summit of
Glyder Fawr with a perfect line. Dawn was also upon us at this point. I made my
way to the summit as some spectacular views of the Glyders unfolded before me.
I felt my spirit lift as the early morning sun shone upon us.
 |
Summiting Glyder Fach with my rave shirt still on
photo Sarah Ridgeway |
The summit was
bagged with a 2minute gain on the schedule. 20 minutes later we had also
summated Glyder Fach. It was 4 minutes slower than the schedule I was using but
I was not going to worry about that as during my earlier recce runs I normally
took at least 18minutes. Just one more summit to go; Tryfan. I grabbed an extra
gel from Clive at the top of Glyder Fach scree slope descent in anticipation of
the Tryfan ascent. I was not descending fast due to being over cautious about
my ankle and although I found using sticks beneficial from a support
perspective I found that they did hamper my descending speed. Looking back
though it may have been a good thing and reduced the amount of impact damage my
quads were receiving. I liked the ascent up Tryfan. The combination of a cool temperature and a
scrambling ascent, allowing me to use my upper body strength, meant that I only
lost 2 minutes on the scheduled time. I think all of that was lost on my
cautious scree slope descent from the previous summit of Glyder Fach. The
descent
 |
| View of Tryfan from Ogwen that morning. |
from Tryfan however was fuelled with a little excitement of reaching my
“Rock” roadside stop. I trotted down to the Ogwen layby to see Dave and Gaynors
trusty Bongo van with a massive skull and crossbones flag flying and once again
some rock music blaring out. It may have been 6.30am but it was time to rock!
 |
| Bongo & skull & Bones Rock stop! |
I think I had ate all of Daves spag bol by
then so it was a more traditional breakfast of porridge and a nice cup of tea.
Within what seemed like a very short time Noddy Holder was heared on the music
system….eeek time to get a move on. The Carneddau leg had my name written on it
and it was time to get the job finished. So I set off with Tracy, Dale, Dave,
& Mike. First up was Pen yr Ole Wen, one of my favourite little scrambles
in Snowdonia. I can’t say I was up it at a fast pace as I could feel the
tiredness beginning to bite into the muscles. I remember get a little shove from
Tracy at one of the climbing points as if to give me a little nudge to get a
shuffle on. It worked I put my head down and concentrated on getting to the
summit. I knew once I was up I had completed most of the ascent for that leg
then and it would be reasonable running after that. About three quarter of the
way up the ascent the weather changed and a small low system moved in. Within
about 5 minutes our view had been cut to about 25 yards due to low level cloud
base. The associated drizzle and plummet in temperature meant that we all got
our jackets on, but despite this we still managed to reach the summit in
57minutes, only 1 minute off schedule. We grouped at
 |
| Albert congratulates his Dad at the finish! |
the summit and headed off
to the next peaks. The lack of visibility did not present any problems over
this section. I had ran it that often I was beginning to recognize certain
rocks on the trod’s. There are only a couple of key turns to get right and as
long as you get them right it’s a fairly straightforward leg. However, the coldness and rain made the going
slow on a few of the descents due to the rocks being extremely greasy and
slippy. We lost about 15minutes in the middle of this leg due to the
conditions, but this was fine as the end was in sight. Approaching the last
ascent my acknowledgement of completing the round was sinking in the weather
started to brighten. The cloud was starting to lift and it was warming up as
the sun gained height in the sky. I felt
energised (easy to do when you aren’t carrying anything!) and pushed on towards
Pen
 |
| Happy me at the end :) |
Llithrig y Wrach. I got to the summit and turned to start the descent but
realized a combination of my energy burst and the team getting waterproofs off
we had spread out. Dale’s experience once again shown through as he halted us
all till we had regrouped. The descent from this point is one of those funny
lines that is only on a minor trod and if missed you can end up getting way
laid. So it was important for us all to do the descent together. The descent is
great fun and we all really enjoyed the run down to the main road into Capel
Curig. The cloud lifted and the sun shone down on us on the last few glorious
miles. We all got to the road with big grins on our faces. Tracy then shouted
out, “Right Ant, lead us home”, so of we set along the final kilometre on the
road traveling at a fair pace (Tracy’s Garmin registering 6min mile pace!). We
came into Capel to be greeted by a large banner across the traffic Island
saying “Finish” it across it and everyone cheering myself and support home. It
was a fantastic and welcome sight. Within a minute Gaynor had produced
champagne and beers. The final black tie road stop began, but this time with no
threat of Noddy Holder interruptions!
 |
| Champagne & Black tie finish! |
The completion of my Paddy Round is without
a doubt one of my proudest moments of life. There is also no doubt in my mind I
could not have undertaken it with the help of all my friends that were there to
help me. So thank you George Bate, Bryan Carr, Dale Colclough, Shane Goodrich
(& Dickie), David Harrison, Clive Hevey, Mike Perry, Gaynor Prior, David
Prior, Simon Reed, Iain Ridgeway, Sarah Ridgeway, and Jonathon Whilock. Last
but no means least a very special thank you for Tracy Dean for accompanying me
on many, many, many runs over the route, and for her support not only over the
weekend but on the months of buildup beforehand. I raise my glass and say
 |
George, Simon & Dale.
“Cheers!” to you all and my father for putting me back on the trod again.
That one was for you Dad J
|
