That’s good! A somewhere dangerous sport 
for injuries.
That’s boarding school and it’s influence that has assisted me throughout my life. It opened several doors for me as time progressed.
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The hardest thing I ever did in my life was when I foolishly accepted a challenge to walk the Lyke Wake Walk. 42 miles across the North York Moors from Osmotherly to Ravenscar on the coast.
Its customary to start the walk at midnight, walk through the night, and part of the next day, just in case you get lost. It’s easier to find you in daylight, and you are allowed 24 hours in which to complete the walk and obtain a badge. Which is incidentally a coffin… 
I had walked a few long distance paths in the past, but nothing like this.
We struggled up steep hills and over sodden peat bogs, through the night and into the dawn.
It was no surprise when it started raining as the sky began to lighten. As enthusiasm began to wain, and the support vehicle looked enticingly warm and comfortable, I had made up my mind to perhaps give up the struggle at the next checkpoint.
With thirty miles covered we arrived at the next checkpoint and I felt great. The sun had pushed its way through the grey overcast skies and I was feeling warm and happy, apart from my cold wet feet. There was no way that I would not make it to the end, and after fifteen hours, collapsed onto the grass overlooking the North sea at Ravenscar…
It took me over a week to learn to walk properly again, but as well as being the hardest physical thing I had ever done, it was also the most rewarding, and for some unknown reason, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So a year later, I did it again. I managed a further three crossings, which got increasingly easier each time, until one day in June 1983 I was dropped off at the start and ran the thing in eight and a half hours.
There was a race each year in July, and for the next ten years I took part every year managing to complete the run in six hours and a best position of seventh overall.
I went on to compete in many fell runs of of fifty or sixty miles, and even ventured onto roads where I completed 36 full marathons (including the Snowdon Marathon) and over sixty half marathons.
At 72 and after two heart attacks, running continues…
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Wishing you many more happy running years ahead!
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Playing rugby at school being able to walk off the pitch after a match I considered quite an achievement.
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Yes, it is an achievement. I was always worrying about my son when he was on the field.
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