After 200 miles of eventful training our intrepid Phil Lancaster was ready to #RunForEducation and completed his two back-to-back ultramarathons over the weekend 24/25 October. His motivation – fundraising for our Scholarship Programme.
Phil’s email update the day before the big run was typically upbeat – as it had been throughout his training, which we have been following closely.
” Just checked in at our hotel in Carlisle. Sunny at the moment but rain forecast for tomorrow unfortunately! Here’ s the itinerary anyway (pictured below) – he added in that casual style that downplays the magnitude of the undertaking
Map reproduced from https://followinghadrian.com/2014/01/21/walking-hadrians-wall/ shared under the Attribution-ShareAlike license
” We’re aiming to start running at 7AM. Day One should take us between 8-10 hours depending on the weather & not getting lost! We have brought so much food (pictured below)!
It looks a lot, but bear in mind that it takes on average approximately 5,000 calories to fuel an ultra-marathon. On Saturday, we didn’t hear from Phil until the end of the day. His tone was tired but satisfied.
” A bit longer than expected – because of detours we had to run 46 miles! We’re at the halfway place now – True to his word, the pictures arrived later that evening (pictured below).
Phil C. on the wall at Birdoswal (pictured left) & King Edward I in the village of Burgh by Sands, where died of dysentery in 1307 (pictured right).
One can’t help but wonder how much the mud slowed them down. Mud is treacherous stuff. There was no communication all day Sunday , but at 7.36pm word finally came through from Phil Lancaster that they were still in Newcastle as Phil C. his running mate had a knee injury. No details.
Another email at 9PM informed that they had finished the whole run and that details would follow later. While glad the venture had concluded successfully, we were on tenterhooks, anxious to share the triumph and console for the pain, but there was nothing more that day.
” Sorry I didn’t send anything else last night. We got in the car as soon as we finished and had to drive back up to Glasgow! – a postscript in the Monday morning inbox from an exhausted but triumphant Phil.
” What a weekend though. We were shattered in the end. Phil C’s knee was bothering him from the start of yesterday and by the time we got to the last stage he was in agony. He power walked/limped the last 15 miles! What a hero.
” The run up the hill from Vindolanda, over the crags and through the Sycamore Gap to Housesteads fort yesterday morning was one of the best running experiences I’ve ever had. All that amazing history and incredible scenery – and just the two of us there. Fabulous!
It was fabulous. It was crazy, mad, triumphantly fabulously inspiring. At the Galilee Foundation we are as elated at your success as you, Phil, and we have a new sporting hero. We just hope your running mate, Phil C, no less a hero, recovers swiftly from his injury.
Please support Phil Lancaster’s fundraising efforts with a donation here that will turn his hard work into an opportunity for a talented but impoverished Palestinian to obtain a higher education.
