On 8th July Premier NexGen writer on leadership, Tim Alford ran the ‘Race to the Stones’, a 100k route from Lewknor in Oxforshire to Avebury in Wiltshire so called because of the ancient stones at Avebury.
Tim told Premier NexGen how he prepared to run 100k.
“I was getting up really early to get the get the runs in so I was doing a strength session every week plus five runs a week included in either a hills session or a tempo session and a long run. Plus back to back runs as well. So I ran well over 1000 miles since January. I began the run at ten past seven and during the day the weather was warm but not impossibly hot: I believe it reached 24 degrees.”
Having previously run 50 miles (100k is 62miles) Tim was well used to the challenges of ultra running and explained that his low point (what runners call ‘ the wall’) came around 31 miles:
“I’d run 31 miles so I was obviously sore and tired. I know there was still a long way to go - 31 miles. I think that was probably my lowest point. But at the feeding station there was hot food and some leak and potato soup helped revive me. I eventually finished in 11 hours 43 mins, having expected to do it in 12 hours 30 so I was pleased.”
Tim is the national director of Limitless, the youth arm of the Elim Pentecostal Churches in the UK. He explained that the need to raise funds for the Limitless Festival in August comes from their intention to make the festival affordable
“We really want to keep the cost down, because we never want this festival to become the privilege of the middle classes. And we just want to acknowledge that for low income families, or parents with multiple kids, the cost can be high. So the tickets are really cheap, but that means we have a mega fundraising mountain to climb every year and this was my opportunity to do my bit. With gift aid, the total raised will be around £8,000.”
