Heroes, one and all. Pain does not begin to describe what each one of us experienced this weekend. Pain, agony, pain and more agony might be closer. And that's just the support teams, many of whom stayed up for close to 24hrs without rest.
But what we also experienced was the wonder of Trailwalker, from the Gurkhas in logistical action as a unit, enduringly cheerful and ready to catch us when we fell despite the hours on end that they manned checkpoints in wind and rain, to the warmth of all the teams taking part, to the satisfaction of knowing that we were sweating blood in the very best cause.
I think it's fair to say that we went from a vague idea that we would like to have a go at Trailwalker and entering with a quite challenging fundraising commitment six months ago, to a dawning realisation of what it involved rather closer to the day, to actually attempting the thing, to... in some cases finishing, and for the rest coming agonisingly (that word again) close to doing so. Each team, walkers and supporters, has its own story. I would fail miserably if I attempted to tell them. One team managed to get three walkers home, the other two teams fought their way over halfway and well beyond, into the middle of night, through atrocious conditions that left them sliding down the descents, but in the end were forced to retire after a truly heroic effort. There were feet like bloody pulps, a soul destroying diversion created by an idiot on a bike setting up for another event the next day that took one team half an hour off course, warm stews, encouragement and incredible devotion from supporters, Jack's mate James joining at the very last minute and making it to the end despite zero prep, and an awful lot more. I think Parishil summed it up best; everyone is incredibly proud of everyone else. To the teams: Marion, Ben, Robert, Parishil, Marion's Alex, Richard, Michael, Karen, Vanessa, Alex, Ben, Peter, Jane, Alex's mum, Alex's dog, James, Jack, Steven, Katie, Alexis, Zane and, er, me. Well done! To all who have so generously sponsored us. Thank you. It means a lot.
And if current indications are anything to go by...we'll be back.
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