Derek & co 100mile Ultra/Monster Marathon. 19-20th June 2009
My name is Eamonn Chapman I’m from Ireland but I have lived in Sheffield for the last 4years I am a sporty guy I love football and have played for a number of teams in Yorkshire including Wakefield Emly, Dinnington Town and for the last two season’s I’ve been playing for Sheffield F.C and also Sheffield’s Futsal team. I’m currently studying Architecture at Sheffield Hallam University and I have just completed my first Ultra Marathon

 This is how it came about,
A couple weeks ago I got a call from a friend, I had met in Sheffield when I first came over to England we were both in the same predicament and looking for a football club. Derek Keir came from Falkirk in Scotland looking for the same thing I was: success in football. Derek and I were to become great friends and have stayed in touch every since we met in Sheffield.

On that call Derek told me about a Monster challenge he was going to undertake on 19th of  June, a 100 mile run from London to Bath! Derek was doing this in aid of A Friend of EduSport, a charity which promoted education and sport in Zambia by sponsoring Kids to go to school. Derek and his friend Fiona set this charity up in 2006 and now sponsor over 40 kids through education and sport.

Wow was my first words when Derek told me about the challenge I had recently read Ultra Marathon man a book by Dean Karnazes, such was the influence of this book I thought I want to do a Ultra marathon I thought I’ll train for a year and in 2010 I’ll enter my first Ultra.

Derek asked me if I wanted to take part in some of the run, I was quite happy to agree to running around 10 miles. From that call a seed was planted I started to think about maybe I should just start the run and go as far as I can, however my body was not condition to be running 100 miles I just kept telling myself it’ll be all in your head, just break through those mental barriers.

Derek called me a couple of Days later to finalise where we were going to meet and happened to mention ‘you can run the 100 with me if you want’ Ok I agreed! I think he thought I was a bit crazy here I was agreeing to run a 100 miles and the most I’ve ever ran before was a 13.1, A half marathon!

Last week leading up to the race I was trying to organise what I would need nutrition wise, I had to plan on finishing the whole race, so I needed medical kit, food, water, lights to name a few. I was constantly looking up nutrition tips! I planned to try and drink 1ltr of water an hour and eat around 400cals an hour.

The more I planned the more I had time to think about what I was doing! Some doubts crept in but I had to quickly dismiss them and stay positive, I just wanted to get started!

Thursday the 18th of June the night before the Ultra I was packing getting everything ready with the help of my girlfriend Kelly, I had back pack with enough food to do me around 8 hours of running and a enough water for two hours, along the way I would just have to replenish my water in whatever shops we passed there wasn’t the luxury of the planned stations that you get in a half marathon! I went to bed around 1am but didn’t sleep very well, too excited and nervous, thoughts were racing through my head. Then the alarm went off it was 5.40am time to get up! I felt Like I hadn’t slept and wink, I had to catch a train from Sheffield at 06.55 to Doncaster and then from Doncaster to London’s king x.

I had never been to London before, and I had to get the underground to Shepherd’s bush, lets just say the underground was an experience! I met Derek at 10.30, and we headed to one of Derek’s friends who was going to be helping us out later on in the day.

Derek and I headed to Hammersmith this was where the race was to begin, when we got to Hammersmith we hit our first problem! Derek had forgotten the map which we were going to be following all the way to Bath!!! We had to find an internet café to print off a copy, the time was approaching 12 o clock.  We were scheduled to start running at 12! We found one! Got the maps printed and started the race! It was just after 12 so the time was ok!

The first 5mins were hard! Derek and I barely spoke a word to each other! I thought to myself this is going to be tough! After a while it did get a bit easier we had our first wind and now were enjoying the run.

We passed Heathrow airport and stopped to get a picture we were still quite fresh so thought it would be a good time to get a shot. Our destination was Bath however that was broken down into stages the first being Windsor we were heading along the A4 out of London when we came across our second problem Windsor Road we weren’t sure whether to continue on the A4 or to go onto Windsor road, I persuaded Derek that surely Windsor road will lead us to Windsor and it did, however it led us through old Windsor and must of added at least a couple of miles onto our Journey.

After Windsor the next town was Twyford. Twyford was to become a town which I will not easily forget. We reached a point and a road sign directed us to the right towards Twyford 8 miles, I was hurting but just thought of getting to the next town, Derek seemed so fresh I had to ask how he was, ‘hurting, my legs are heavy’ that made me feel better to be honest to know I wasn’t on my own!

Shortly after this we hit our biggest problem of the race and this was to prove catastrophic for me! We came to a diversion in a road with two signs to Twyford one continuing straight on the other branching off  to the right the road was a busy junction and we asked a driver what’s the best way to get to Twyford? Straight on we were told so off we went.

We must of travelled for 30 to 40mins without any signs for Twyford there was no path to run on, Derek was on the grass verge around 20 feet ahead of me however my legs were too sore to go onto the uneven grass so I stuck to the road  a small winding road that cars bellowed by at 60mph just missing me by a foot I wasn’t to bothered at the time, I had started to get a pain on the outside of my right knee that made the cars seem insignificant!

We came to a junction and to our horror there was no signs for Twyford, we asked a couple of cars what way is it to Twyford one driver replying ‘I think its up that road your miles away’ laughing as he drove on, I thought to myself if only he knew we were trying to make it to Bath! Although I was seriously starting to doubt how far I could make it the pain in my right knee was getting worse with every step.

We headed up the road and Derek went into a local golf course to ask for directions which unfortunately proved no help, however just up the road we saw a woman on a horse just about to come out of her garden we inquired about Twyford’s direction? ‘not too sure’ she asked her husband to come out to us who was kind enough to point us in the right direction he said it was around 3miles up the road and offered us a lift, tempting as it was I couldn’t accept even though we were off the beaten track I thought if I get in that car I wont be able to get going again, plus if it was only 3 miles to Twyford I would be happy as that would be our 30 mile marker from Hammersmith.

We ran up the road for quite some time at this stage I was at least a couple of hundred metres behind Derek, the whole point of me doing this was to support him and here I was lagging behind. I had to keep going. Derek pushed on and I just kept going eventually seeing a sign ahead that said Twyford I thought yes it must be only up the road from here!

I was mistaken to my horror the sign said Twyford 5 miles! I nearly broke right there, the pain in my knee was so bad it masked the pain in my back from my backpack rubbing up and down on my lower back I thought for sure I was going to have a massive blister. The pain in my hamstrings I could deal with but this pain on the out side of my knee was getting unbearable I had to stop a number of times to water the bushes! however every time I stopped the pain in my knee got worse I could barely walk it took me a number of attempts to get going again eventually I did get going into a very slow jog. Meanwhile Derek had rang me, I told him to push on and not to worry about me, Derek’s friends Michelle and Brevan were close to Twyford and If I wanted they would pick me up there.

I came across a sign Twyford 3 ¼ miles I just thought to myself get to Twyford, get to Twyford! I kept on pushing. Another sign Twyford 1 ¾ miles. I knew Michelle and Brevan were close but I didn’t want to stop until I made it to Twyford. I came to another junction Twyford ½ mile I was happy to see that! However the pain in my knee took away that feeling within seconds, the pain was like nothing I had ever experienced before it felt like someone had smashed the side of my knee with a hammer!

A number of cars beeped as they drove passed I thought I must of looked a bit of a state and they felt a bit sorry for me! I was just in Twyford when another car beeped I waved and carried on, then the same car turned around and pulled in ahead of me I knew it must have been Michelle and Brevan. Boy was I happy to see them! A quick greeting as I had never met them before.

By this stage Derek was a couple of miles ahead and I felt I was slowing him down too much as I said before the whole point of me being here was to support him not the other way around! So after 7hrs 19mins and 40secs I called it a day. We estimated that we had covered close to an extra 10miles for the mistakes we made earlier in the day. At the time of when I stopped I felt I let Derek down and wasn’t to happy with myself but looking back I had just run longer and further than I had ever done before without any real preparation for what I was undertaken. It was now his support crew’s turn, Michelle and Brevan were to come to his aid, my job was done.

Derek carried on plodding away, Michelle, Brevan and I kept on supporting Derek pulling up ahead of him every so often to give him fresh supplies. Later Derek’s parents were to join us in supporting him, the next stop was Marlborough, We had booked a cottage for the night but depending on how we felt at the time we were either going to continue or stop for a bit of sleep.

We got to the Cottage just after 11.30pm Derek had been running for over 11½ hrs we decided to stop for the night! At that stage I’d been in the car and I had completely stiffened up. I could barely stand and trying to walk was no pretty sight! I made it to the arm chair in the sitting room in the cottage this was to be my bed for the night there were rooms up stairs I’m told! however my legs didn’t have the strength to  carry me there.

I didn’t sleep very well, I nodded off around 2am and woke just after 8am every time I moved on the arm chair it sent shock waves of pain through my body! Getting up to go to the toilet during the night was worse trying to stand up took me several attempts and because I had been drinking a lot of water I had to make a number of trips which was not pleasant to say the least!

The next morning I didn’t feel any better we were greeted by Derek’s parents and a number of his friends came to support him Emily was to go on a bike, Lyson and Becky were to run with Derek. We had a surprise additional runner Brevan who was part of the support crew was taken away with all this running and decided to put on Michelle’s running shoes and go with them! I have to state that Brevan had never ran any long distance before in his life and was wearing running shoes two sizes to small for him!

We headed off at 12 the next day after taking a few photo’s and thanking the generosity of the Rose’s who’s beautiful cottage we had stayed in the night before they had found out what this run was all about to help people of Zambia and they didn’t charge us for the nights stay. 

The route for today Saturday the 20th/06//09 was a bit more straight forward, Just get on the canal and follow it to Bath easier said than done of course! Derek said he was surprised how he felt after a good nights sleep well as good as to be expected, after running over 50miles the day before!

When I saw them off my head was telling me to try and go with them I wanted to run my upper body felt ok however my legs weren’t having any of it, they were in a world of pain! So I was in the support up crew, the ‘tom tom’ guiding our way along the roads that intersected the canal. Derek’s parents stayed with us for around an hour before they had to go, they were kind enough to give us there map, without it I don’t know what we would of done.

Michelle and I continued on stopping every so often to meet up with the runners and give them water and food, Lyson and Brevan were flying they were running so fast they were a mile or so ahead of Derek when we came to Stanton St Bernard we all waited on Derek, Becky and Emily, gave them all some food and drink, the next stop was Devizes.

Michelle and I got to Devizes quite quickly we thought it would be over an hour until the guys caught up with us so we went to get some food for the runners and us, We got the runners some chips and Derek needed something more substantial so a burger was on the menu for him. We were waiting in Devizes for a while and started to wonder if we had missed them.

Then we saw Becky, Derek and Emily coming up the canal I wondered if Lyson and Brevan had fallen behind seen as they had set off so quickly, it was not the case we had missed the lads they were past Devizes and heading for Bradford upon Avon around 10miles from Devizes!

After a brief break at Devizes, Michelle and I headed for Bradford upon Avon. When we got there we were waiting for over an hour and started to worry about Lyson and Brevan, had they passed here already? It was a hot day and they didn’t have food or water with them surely they couldn’t of kept going they were going to hit a wall soon enough I thought.

We were waiting there quite some time the sun had started to go down, Michelle and I were kept entertained by the barges going through the lock, not to forget to mention one of the barges crew nearly falling into the canal! A while later we saw a runner coming towards us  it was Becky she looked as if she had just started a race! Becky told us that she had passed Lyson and Brevan around 5miles ago. Becky told us how she nearly had to stop only for she noticed a tap by a camp site beside the canal which came to her aid.

We waited for everyone Lyson and Brevan came next shortly followed by Derek and Emily. Emily had stuck by Derek on a bike and kept him going throughout the day. They all took on food and water however Brevan the non-runner was done he had done amazingly well to get this far he must of covered more than a Marathon having never trained before, that is an amazing feat. He was shaking quite badly we got some jumpers and a jacket to put over him also I had packed a survival blanket which we quickly undone and wrapped around him. He wanted to continue on as it wasn’t that far to Bath however it wasn’t worth the risk and Michelle convinced him to get in the car. At this point I also have to mention Lyson he was running in astro turf trainers! I don’t know how he managed to get that far with them type of trainers on!

So on Derek, Emily and Lyson went, Becky was quite fresh so she left shortly before them and sped off  down the canal. The next stop was Limpley stoke we had planned to get there before Becky and follow her up the road to her house where the race would end. However we pulled by a bridge which was just before where we were to meet Becky and missed her. It was getting late and dark and I started to worry about them coming along the canal I had brought a number of lights for running at night but no one else did and my lights were in my bag.

I put them on and slowly started to walk in the direction that the guys would be coming from after around 10mins of walking it was pitch black I had called Derek to see if Becky was with them as I had not come across anyone yet, she wasn’t! I continued and then I bumped into Lyson, Derek and Emily. I needed the bike I could barely walk! So we continued on the canal until we got to the bridge that Michelle and Brevan were parked, Emily pointed out that she thought we weren’t on the correct bridge in which we should of met Becky.

There wasn’t much to go now, however there was the mother of all hills to climb especially after running for so long, it must of been a killer for the guys coming up that hill towards Becky’s house.
We got into Becky’s house just before 11.30pm Derek had been running for nearly 23hrs and covered 100miles. We got some food at the shops, pizza and garlic bread and stuffed our faces as much as we could!
Just before bed I was in the toilet I picked up the toilet tissue to blow my noise and what do I see printed on top of the toilet… TWYFORD!!!! I had to laugh, Twyford is certainly etched within my memory!

It was a long journey, everyone had achieved so much over the last couple of days Becky had run further than she had ever ran before, Emily was a back bone for Derek all along the canal, Lyson and Brevan had run further than they ever had before as well. Without Michelle in the back up car it would of not been possible to run along the canal. I had run further than I had ever before, my body was and still is in pain during Saturday I didn’t realise how strong the sun was and got badly burnt on my face and neck, I couldn’t really taste the pizza I was dehydrated and my lips were burnt, I’ve blisters on my neck and mouth, the run had also caused me problems I didn’t realise, the chafing had made a certain part down below bleed! My lower back is swollen and that pain in my knee was still there although on Sunday morning it was feeling a little better.

I got a bus from Bath to Bristol on Sunday morning at 9.13 and then a train from Bristol to Sheffield I arrived in Sheffield at 1.20pm and was greeted by my beautiful girlfiend we got to my home just before 2pm, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to come back to Sheffield see my bed and do nothing for the day I did contemplate going to the gym to do a short cycle but again my legs weren’t having any of it!

I cant imagine what Derek is feeling like to do what he did takes courage, commitment and determination what he achieved is amazing. And by him having the drive to do this is amazing. For the cause that he is working for is amazing, to help people get educated is a long term solution in helping the people of a nation have hope to live a better life.

The only person I knew before taking part in this adventure was Derek however after a couple of days with the people I met I felt like I had known them most of my life. It was such an amazing adventure to experience the team work and the support everyone showed to each other was heart warming. Michelle and I decided in Bradford upon Avon that this should be a yearly event! Something not yet set in stone but would be great if it happened!

What you hear so much in the news these days are negative, I feel like more of these types of life triumphs should be celebrated and published here was a group of people from all over the world that were united through a friend for a cause that they wont forget for the rest of there life. From South Africa to Zambia to England and Ireland and last but not least the Scots man Derek who inspired us all
Thank you.

REMEMBER TO SUPPORT  FRIEND OF EDUSPORT