THERE’S something very magical about Rivington Pike. On a good day you can stand beside it and it feels like you can see forever. On a bad day, the mist gives it an eerie ethereal feel. Up there, you get a real sense of the power of nature, good and fearsome.
The wind rises at the top at times threatening to blow you
off your feet, the temperature drops and it feels like you’re in a very dark,
foreboding place. Yet there is always – clear skies or misty gloom --an
unmistakable majesty about it. It is where the earth touches the heavens.
Challenging it to a one-on-one battle six times a day, five
days on the trot, is always going to be a contest heavily stacked in its
favour. It is not for the faint-hearted. But then, no challenge worth its salt
is ever achieved with a faint heart.
The sense of achievement should you rise to the challenge
and defeat this hell of a hill for even just one day let alone five consecutive
days, is life-changing. Five-in-five runners conquer this mystical peak 30
times to achieve victory, to stand at the top of this great hill as a
conqueror.
Welcome to the Hell of a Hill Marathon.
Twelve months ago, after I had completed one day of it, the
thought came to me to go for all five. I have rarely believed between then and
last week that I could do all five, certainly not at the first attempt, but the
thinking behind it was simple. I would start on the Wednesday and see how far I
got. I might not be able to do one this time round – I had no idea. I only
wanted to do my best, whatever that turned out to be.
Not knowing what your best is, that’s what makes us set
ourselves challenges. Then when we achieve
them, or as in my case this year, go further than I ever imagined myself
capable of going, we grow as people; we build our character..
That’s the magic of the Pike. It not only brings out the
best in you – it shows you a best that you never thought could exist.
I was privileged to share this challenge with - and run every day alongside - some of the most
incredible runners I have ever met. People of various shapes and sizes, but all sharing two things – an iron will not to be defeated and a physical strength
to withstand the pain the Pike can inflict when you challenge it again and
again, day after day. Awesome athletes, yes. But awesome characters, too. Every
one an inspiration.
This was my first attempt. I must get better if I’m to have
another chance. All I can hope is that every time I attempt it, I manage a
little more than last time.
But that has always been the way. It is not just a lesson for gritty endurance
runners.
In April 2013, at over 24 stone, I lasted no more than a
minute walking on a treadmill on my first visit to the gym. I had no idea then
what I could achieve, what would be my “best” that day. I had no dreams to
climb a Pike. All I wanted on the next visit to the gym was to try to walk on
the treadmill for two minutes. Then three, then four…
Just as I had no idea
what I would manage as I stood at the start line in Wilcocks Caravan Park in
Rivington that cold Wednesday morning last week, so I had no idea when I
stepped on the treadmill three and a half years ago whether I would be able to
walk on it for a minute more than I'd done the day before.
We all have our own challenges and our own agendas. If
we constantly strive to do the best we can, our best will continue to surprise
us.
So my first attempt is broken down like this: Five days, started
every day. Two marathons, two 18-mile runs and one 9.5-mile run. A total of 98
miles. 22 laps of the Pike. 18,300ft of climb.
All because I dreamed three and a half years ago that I’d be
able to walk for more than a minute on the treadmill. And wasn’t prepared to
let it stop at that.
www.hillrunner.org.uk
