Bradley reaches the 100-mile marker - with five minutes to spare

Bradley Earwaker embarked on an 100-mile race from Winchester to Eastbourne. He trained in Hastings throughout of lockdown, including a personal challenge named ‘100 Days of Happy’. Here is his account of the event...
It was hot work...It was hot work...
It was hot work...

Waking up in Winchester on the day of my debut 100 was daunting and mind-numbing. The clock started ticking just after 5am watching the rising sun, banking some easy miles.

My cousin and I settled in to a gentle on and off walk/run routine where we ran small intervals of up to five minutes.

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It was going well until we arrived at the 61-mile check point at 11pm, where my cousin made the hard decision to pull out of the race with excruciating shin pain. I needed to borrow a new bag after mine was damaged and was grateful to a kind volunteer, Matt Wainwright, who lent me his. But I felt less lucky knowing I had to carry on for 39 miles on my own.

Bradley Earwaker at the 100-mile challengeBradley Earwaker at the 100-mile challenge
Bradley Earwaker at the 100-mile challenge

Powering on up the hills, I needed to buy back time after spending too long at the aid station. I was worried I didn’t have enough of a buffer to allow for fatigue in the final miles.

I tried to stay focused despite my body begging that I stopped.

Overtaking many runners was a healthy sign I was covering good ground.

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The next major checkpoint was at Housedean Farm (76.6miles) allowing a change of shoes and a carb load. Legs torn to pieces, and tears rolling down my face, I had to keep moving.

A quick breather...A quick breather...
A quick breather...

Some experienced trail runners kept me on pace and I stayed with for a few hours, chatting and laughing.

I arrived at Jevington – 96 miles in – and was advised I had just over an hour to get to the finish, a pace I never thought I could find after nearly 29 hours.

I somehow got back into a run while on a call to my parents who were at the finish line. I gave it everything and my finish time was 29:55:14.