Page 68 - The KRH Year of 2023 (CREST Sharing)

68 The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars Trailwalker
Four Hawks, two and a half marathons, two Mount Snowdons and Sgt McCormick and Sgt Robson-Cross for every kind of support. ‘Sure, that sounds alright!’
On the evening of 22nd September, with stomachs carb loaded on Pizza Hut’s finest, as all real athletes do before an event, the dream team of SSM Harrison, SSM Lees, SSM Thorpe and Lt Allen tried to get their heads down. Our first mistake was that we decided to camp 10m away from the A3 (a promising start). Our second was that our team training programme consisted of one 10km joint jog and a solo 20km. Nonetheless, we were ready.
With some baggy eyes but undeterred, the team set off at 0700 and embarked on their 100km. A few hundred metres in SSM Lees remarked ‘come on, we need to keep a good pace!’ Lt Allen thought to himself: ‘I thought the South was flat.’ The South Downs was anything but.
With a checkpoint at every 10km and the friendly welcoming of Sgt McCormick and Sgt Robson-Cross with refreshments and the inspiring words of ‘it’s a piece of piss we’ll be done in no time.’ We were making good headway. By the 40km check- point, this was still the case, but blisters, chafing and cramp were beginning to take hold.
It took us 6 hours 13 minutes 52 seconds to do our first mara- thon (42.5 km), whereas it took 8 hours and 31 minutes to complete our second marathon (84.44km). With the bodies becoming stiffer and slower and the light now darkness, each member of the team at some point faced their own mini battle. Regardless, the other three were there for morale and heads never dropped, especially with the excitement of seeing Sgt McCormick and Sgt Robson-Cross at yet another checkpoint (they even brought McDonalds to one).
In the early hours of the morning of 24th September, at around 0200, the Hawks crossed the line. With over £500 raised for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, 100km travelled and 7,318 feet climbed the team had much to be proud of.
JA/JT
A bog standard morning run for SSM Thorpe...
Not a bad day for it