(top pic, David Miller) It has certainly been a busy month. I followed up completion of this dark and mesmerising 200 mile race in 54hours and 19 minutes (for context that Tunnel would join Bath to Lake Windermere if continuous) and recklessly followed it up 3 weeks later with 100KM in the bright and…
I’m very excited to be building up to my Big TOE next year and a major part of that is being accepted to run the Brathay Challenges 10 in 10. Brathay Trust is one of two youth support and development charities that I am supporting with the 10 in 10 an amazing curtain raiser ahead…
What an adventure! The Line 300 was immensely deceptive, so much more in reality than it seemed when I signed up for it. Here’s the TLDR bit for anyone either with just a passing intertest or a short attention span. I attempted The Line 300 by Cockbain Events, a 328-mile journey, self-supported, carrying a pack,…
So, I got halfway through The Tunnel, which metaphorically and truthfully is a hard place to stop. I have had 2 meaningful DNFs before, at events I was determined to complete. The first was when horribly exposed to the arctic snowstorm in the wrong kit during the Lofoten Islands 100 mile, a race nearly all…
I actively enjoy ultra running. I got into the sport for the big point-to-point challenges, traversing vast landscapes on foot. I love routes that take me through river valleys, over mountain rocks or across sandy bays. I’m endlessly curious to see around the next corner. That’s not what I’m going to get in The…
It’s been a year with injury management and physical breakdown a constant threat, but nevertheless 27 marathons and ultras were completed in it and some of the most epic experiences in life, let alone in running. 1 Greenham Common A looped marathon. A looped marathon is a great way to test a sore leg. If…
Is ultrarunning – and long hours of physical activity – good for your mental health? Recently my friend Stewart gave a full account of a DNF at Copthorne 100, a very hard hilly race of 10×10 miles laps. It is a race with an extremely high attrition rate. At 50 miles Stewart wasn’t going so…
It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained. Queen Elizabeth II The collective unconscious consists of the sum of the instincts and their correlates, the archetypes. Just as everybody possesses instincts, so he also possesses a stock of archetypal images. Carl Jung Man needs difficulties; they…
Midway through a ‘what a year I’ve had’ type year for me I met a man who also lives between one exhilarating adventure and another. I was in Uganda, nominally for the marathon, truthfully for the adventure and the life-enhancing envelopment that comes with visiting the associated charitable projects. The man I met was Steve…
This time next week I will be in Chamonix awaiting the Friday 26th August start of Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. It’s a prestigious race and for many the ultimate goal of ultrarunning, the nearest thing ultrarunners have to cycling’s Tour de France. It’s a full circuit around Mont Blanc, Europe’s biggest mountain, anti-clockwise from…
Frank Wainwright was recently a runner participant in the Mongol 100, a 100-mile, 4 day crossing of Lake Khovsgul with participants making the journey on foot, skating or by fat bike. The event had just 12 participants – all of whom had signed up in 2019 for the COVID casualty 2020 event. The lucky 12…
On Saturday, I completed my 50th Marathon or Ultramarathon. It came up as a surprise. When talking the other day, I speculated that it must be nearing 30, so I had a check, made a list, appended with numbers, added in the one that I forgot, and suddenly it was 49. Maverick South Downs would…
An article that I wrote for Field Marketing magazine, supported by Eurotunnel Event review content including photos and interview with the celebrity athletes, a tour of the event, stands, shops and promotions, and the participating in the running… and listening to Rick Astley!
“The concept is simple, you start on the hour every hour and have to run and complete a 4.167 mile trail route in that time. You must run the loop and be back ready to start the next loop or you are out, the race continues until there is only one person who can complete…
The Back Yard format is the work of legendary racemaker Lazarus Lake and has quickly grown into a global phenomenon – as charted in an excellent recent BBC feature. In a nutshell – Back Yards are 4.16 miles long and runners complete one lap at a time, on the hour, every hour, until only one…
Let’s start with the Ooser himself. He was represented by some kind of popular mask worn in mummer style occasions. The Ooser was never truly famous, even back 120 years or so ago. Even when this evocative carved wooden head and moving jaw was at the peak of its powers , the Ooser was known…
The last 12 months have reminded us all that the world is small enough to transfer viruses around it at a record speed yet large enough to provide infinite variety local to home. You just need to swap the telescope for the microscope. My love of travel is, for now, packed away in its suitcase.…
Ask on any relevant forum about your chances of training for and completing an ultramarathon and you’ll be told a few things very quickly: Control your pace. Walk the hills. Its more a mental challenge than a physical one This advice is broadly true as a ruleset for the majority of beginners. The top two…
In December 2019 I looked ahead to 2020, the most meticulously planned year of my life with 20 outstanding endurance running events booked and scheduled in amongst my cut down office workload. I sunk a vast chunk of savings into entry fees, travel and hotels. But what a year in prospect! Spoiler alert: It didn’t…
The first I knew of Ronnie Staton was when I tried to buy a late place in the 100-mile event he runs under the organiser moniker Hobo Pace, The Robin Hood 100 (September 2019). Entering was a last-minute decision and the ticket sales website had pulled up the drawbridge to entry, a few hours early.…
So, Lockdown 2 is over, and the Tiers are now flowing. November Lockdown meant turning to virtual challenges again, but by my own rules I could not simply repeat tests and trials I had already undertaken in Lockdown 1. But I found two medal challenges that met the criteria and tested me in new ways.…
News of October’s edition 26 of Ultrarunning World’s magazine only reached me today. Congratulations to the publishing team – its a great read, and I’m proud to see my Race Report in there, and better still illustrated by the photographs of Stuart March Photography, one of the very best studios in events and sports. Working…
One of the pleasures of ultrarunning and long endurance days out, is that it acts like a humanity sieve. The people that put themselves through it are my kind of people – outdoorsy, energised, contemplative, easy company. In the middle of the pack there’s no room for arrogance; we’re not there to win the race…
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gareth-kilshaw [Run begins on Saturday 7th November] When Gareth Kilshaw dumped the cigarettes 4 years ago, and took on and beat his running enthused brother at a local 10K, he had no idea that he would become a running hero of mine via feats in ultrarunning. I’m proud now to be able to call him…
Photographs ©Frank Wainwright. Taken from Cornwall, Devon and Dorset running adventures, October 2020.
Run 202020, Race 16. The Atlantic Coast Challenge 40 Miler was a challenge and not a race so of course there was no winner. So the first place finisher was Daniel Jones, a local local, and an ultra runner who has plenty of experience of the South West Coastal Path. After the not race, Frank…
A grade 2 calf strain (aka a calf tear) is a serious setback in any athlete. Fortunately, it is also a well known one that responds well to what they call conservative treatment. That means surgery intervention and advanced science treatments such as stem cell are not high on the agenda however keen you are…
My 'lovestation 'for the Lockdown Frolic In Karen Maitland’s novel, The Company of Liars, a deceitful band of hawkers, storytellers, artists performers, rune-readers, healers and magicians make their way from village to village as an incomprehensible pestilence causes townsfolk to lock themselves away in fear and survival becomes the common denominator to all. The central…
The offer of interviewing Marshall Ulrich on the publication of his new book Both Feet on the Ground saw an immediate yes for me. How much incentive do you need? Marshall is an ultra running adventuring hero, an icon of my sport and his book was billed as sharing profoundly the “Therapeutic Benefits of Immersion…
With so many endurance events in jeopardy, just running for the joy of being out and exercising is back on trend. This interview from 8th March is with one of the most positive thinkers in the world of running, about how he has rediscovered that simple joy and used it to look ahead, past the…
On Monday, Frank Wainwright met the ROKiT team and some of the glitterati of motorsport at the classic London pub, The Nag’s Head, Covent Garden Got to be honest with you, until Monday I didn’t have a fantasy business conglomerate. But I have one now. I mean they just put together an event where I’ve…
The astonishing story of Richard Andrews, the neck breathing ultrarunner. An affectionate humiliation in the world of running comes to many of us when a costumed runner, typically a rhino – comes past you on the finishing straight. An affect that the rhino runners have is to make you aware of their difference, their handicap.…
So yesterday evening went rather well. Kindly invited by Pukka, I went to the Lord’s Tavern hoping to catch a word or two with Mastermind quiz champion Shaun Wallace, play along with the quiz, drink the accompanying Marston’s Pedigree and chat about marketing with Pukka’s Rachel Cranston. All of which I did (If you are…
So I was a little delayed with this meal, but here is my Chinese New Year gift from Chinatown in London put to good use. Key exotics ingredients, Black Fungus and Chayote. Verdict: The crunchy fungus was a nicer texture than thought, but the recipe needed spicing up. The Chayote, billed as somewhere between a…
So, the first two months of the year have passed and with it my first four races. How’s it going? How is the book progressing? January Run202020 started with a bang under the fireworks at Zurich Neujahr’s Marathon which was certainly an exciting start. The fireworks overhead and a rock music adrenaline fuelled blast into…
Well they say that endurance running is all about adapting the plan! The postponement of Race 5 in the #Run202020 series, the Mongol 100, to 2021 has been embraced by me as part of the story. #Run202020 is about travel, places and people as much as running, and the travel business is beset with potential…
A romantic round up doesn’t sound altogether romantic does it? Just reading my headline back I find myself thinking it might just make a good Valentine’s slogan piece for Monsanto’s popular weedkiller Roundup. If that prospect sounds like a lurch beyond offbeat then that might be down to my own mental process. My Valentine’s Day…
Gulls in the sky and in my blue eyes You know it feels unfair, there’s magic everywhere Look at me standing here on my own again, up straight in the sunshine No need to run and hide, it’s a wonderful, wonderful life No need to laugh or cry, it’s a wonderful, wonderful life Up early…
The trip ahead of me was immense. Manavgat Ultra beckoned, a 41-miles run with an upwards trajectory of 9000 feet, scrambling up Mt Hatmalar up over loose brambly boulders and scree, with freezing wind and snow flurrying down from the icy cap. Then, after Manavgat, I had a further mission to run across snowbound tracks…
Adam Holland in tiggerish form at Phoenix's Excalibur event in December – a chance to practice on the route of his 20 in 20 bid this April Guinness World Records has ratified and awarded the ‘fastest time to complete 10 marathons in 10 days (male)’ to elite endurance athlete Adam ‘Tango’ Holland. Known as the…
The world’s largest diners’ club, tastecard, launches its first self-love Valentine’s pop-up restaurant. The ‘Two4One’ restaurant, on Great Eastern St, London, will feature mirrors placed on each table so solo diners can enjoy a romantic Valentine’s meal out in a bid to fall in love with their own fabulous selves. This unique restaurant gives ‘two…
Thanks to my friends from London’s Chinatown real estate guardian’s Shaftesbury, I received an amazing gift for Chinese New Year. Here’s the unboxed reveal, quite a wow, with some fantastic recipes. And here is the challenge to you all. Included in the box is an amazing recipe for Sichuan Black Fungus, which I fully intend…
A giftbag today from friends of Field Marketing and the Frank blog, Seven Dials, Covent Garden has included some wonderful news and goodies that I can share amongst my endurance, fitness, travel and wellness friends. An understated looking shampoo and conditioner travel set helps celebrate the arrival in the Shaftesbury operated Seven Dials of Australian…
Everton in the Community welcomed The Duke of Cambridge to Liverpool 4 on Thursday as he visited The People’s Hub as part of the Heads Up campaign and praised the charity for taking the lead in tackling the stigma around mental health and going above and beyond with its innovative delivery. His Royal Highness spent…
Guinness has teamed up with sports legend Rio Ferdinand for a new, Pan-African partnership. Guinness Night Football, taking place later this month in Lagos, is the culmination of Guinness and HeyHuman’s campaign across the continent thus far. Two hand-picked five-a-side teams, comprising consumers and African music celebrities, will play the beautiful game in the dark,…
Lazarus Lake is much more accessible than the mystique with which he enshrouds his Barkley Marathons. My challenge now is to find something interesting to say about this hero of pain vs gain, that hasn't been said with such competency already by others. I think I have something… working on it! Time is rushing past…
Xbox and McCann London are proud to announce the launch of “The Rough Guide to Xbox” on January 30. Created in partnership with Rough Guides, one of the world’s leading travel guide publishers, the book is Rough Guides’ first-ever edition dedicated to virtual worlds, and works as a fully-functioning travel guide, exploring the stunning beauty…
At each of my 202020 runs I will hope to track down one or two of the fine folk who toed the start line with me and find out what the race meant to them. Talant Abdyldaev When I noticed that one of the other runners on Country to the Capital with me hailed from…
General Mills-owned Yoplait has signed up as Official Yogurt of The NBA Paris Game 2020 Presented by beIN SPORTS for their much-loved drinkable yoghurt brand YOP – creating a ‘YOPStars’ activation developed by London-based creative agency Space. France’s first regular-season NBA game, which will be played in front of a sold-out crowd, will feature the…
intu has created three walk-in ‘light houses’ to boost footfall, dwell time and brighten the moods of its 35 million visitors using the psychological benefits of colour. The Happy, Calm and Energise houses will tour intu’s popular shopping destinations throughout 2020 featuring colour combinations proven to help people feel happier, more relaxed and more energised.…
I came home last night with make-up mogul Bobbi Brown’s smoothie recipe in my pocket. “Think of it as the “little black dress” of smoothies”, she says, and so I did. Bobbi’s chocolate collagen smoothie isn’t billed as complicated. It is, in fact, your go-to collagen smoothie. Ingredients: 1 cup almond mile or preferred plant-based…
Beyond the Far Side is such a surreal set of races. There are four options these days, 24hr, 12hr and 6hr time-limited 5.3 mile endurance laps, and a single lap and a bit for a fun 10K jaunt. This event is held in a corner of Wiltshire where it always rains everyday in the months…
At each of my 202020 runs I will hope to track down one or two of the fine folk who toed the start line with me and find out what the race meant to them. Giorgio Guglielmino Country to the Capital struck me as a good first ultra, made all the better if you were…
At each of my 202020 runs I will hope to track down one or two of the fine folk who toed the start line with me and find out what the race meant to them. Dr. Hans-Peter Gräbel A quietly humoured business director from Wels in Austria, Hans-Peter finished a minute and a half ahead…
If there were an inspiration pyramid for UK running Steve Ovett would be somewhere near the top, a pioneer of the age when TV stopped being a luxury and enshrined the achievers of the day to the viewing masses for the first time. Coe and Ovett were the Bolt and Kipchoge of their day, global…
#Run202020 medal rack with race 2, Country to the Capital added Race 2 is done, that’s a tenth of the year’s adventure already over. Country to the Capital, I now understand means more to the urban runner than the countrysiders. London is so very massive and a complex nation state in its own right. Busy…
Specialist sports and tourism agency Azalea has snapped up social media sensation the Average Golfer in a deal that will see the company maximise his exposure and manage his commercial rights and partnerships. The increasing value of influencers in the changing media landscape, as golfers’ consumption habits continue to shift, has made video content crucial…
Sometimes it feels like we live in and around walled cities with only motorways and train tunnels providing the officially endorsed routes in and out. There’s something magnificent yet miniscule about breaking into a city as overwhelming as London on foot dragging memories and mud in from the countryside. All that effort to add a…
So, Zurich has seen me get underway and the chapter writing started in earnest. I was lucky to meet Jason Mccardle and Deborah Hale from Sussex Trail Events after we had finished, together with runners from Munich who called themselves the 6 loons “verrückte”. They will all add to the chapter when I finish writing…
At the Neujahr’s Marathon there was an impressive international crowd, around 1000 runners and a decent amount of additional family and friends. It was one noisy gym in Schlieren. The event is a golden opportunity for brand support and in Generali they have a very well-equipped leading race partner, an insurance company with wellbeing at…
Counting up every timed event I ran 44 events in 2019 and raced and trained for 2000 miles (exactly, as it happens!) As I have chosen 20 highlight events for 2020, here are the 19 that stood out in 2019. 19: Bridgwater 10K This was a PB race, lowering my 10K to 40.40, largely…
Why have people taken to running? I read an essay recently that said that more and more it was a status thing, that people are taking to listing their running feats on job hunt and dating sites. Far from self-discovery in allegiance with nature, and mental release, most runners, it surmised, actually heap more mental…
Simplyhealth’s partnership with Great Run Company is right up there with the most seamless of all sports sponsorships. The link has been forged between people who value their health and, who are at the same time are motivated to try and stay healthy. And the events themselves, include a jewel in the crown of running,…
FMBE_v02 from Ven Stack I was absolutely delighted to see that our event celebration of my FMBE Awards was shown as part of a success story package at Proctor and Gamble last week. The FMBE Awards attract attention from the biggest brands globally and we have long been endorsed as an important part of the…
Therapy Evolved and Maxwell Coaching presented Mike James, the Endurance Physio to a packed room at Chippenham Golf Club on Wednesday 13th November. Attendees came from a full range of endurance runners and triathletes from Chippenham and Corsham alongside therapists and coaches. There is clearly appetite for forward thinking advice and insight resources for endurance…
I came across this video from 2019 Transgancanaria today including the incredible 128K event that I completed (though, no, I don’t make the edit!). Seeing this video brought this all back – what an event, and what an outstanding route to follow. It is all theer in this video, the night time beach start, the…
The London to Brighton car rally is a sleeping giant of the automotive world. These days it is, in fact, accurately referred to as the Bonham’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, #veterancarrun. The event is designed to celebrate the emancipation of the motor car when in 1905 the speed limit went up to 14mph…
Last weekend took a derail as I received a late invite to go and see the Death Stranding experience at Camden Market, attended by gaming royalty in the shape of the brains behind it all – and before that the Metal Gear Solid franchise, Hideo Kojima, nowadays of Kojima Productions. The PS4 game Death Stranding…
RUN: 202020 : The Handbook of Go Further Endurance Running …and the RUN 202020 project. Project starts 01.01.20 and concludes with the book publication in May 2021. A Handbook of ‘go further’ running inspiration centred around 20 amazing 2020 endurance events. This book will inspire you to take on endurance events, whether aiming to build…
The Leviathon, Southend Pier Marathon, Beyond the Far Side: Is there any merit in long races done as laps? In the last two weeks I have completed the 50-mile Leviathon which saw me repeat 7 there and back laps of the same stretch of Thames Path and the Southend Pier Marathon, which is 11 visits…
The sub-two-hour marathon – what do we know about the great British record holder behind it? In the time it took Eliud Kipchoge to prove that No Human is Limited, plastic pollution was pushing for a new record 2000 metric tons of waste dumped into the ocean in less than 2 hours. That’s 8 million…
Two weekends, two contrasting endurance races… 06/02/19 Chester has been on my marathon wish list for a while, a big-small road marathon, very popular amongst runners. I entered impetuously after The Great Welsh Marathon in Spring had left me with unfinished business in terms of getting a time. At the Great Welsh I set my…
The Special Delivery very nearly didn’t make it into my Words&Deeds Lab as I had left the brown dog on Reception Duty and she was camouflaged in the brown shadows under a brown bush in the garden. So, it was a frozen mid motion postie who waved a promising white envelope in my general direction,…
Unconventionally, my second 100-mile race was one that many recommend for their first. Equally, entering a 100-mile race two weeks before is not in the standard learn-Ultra rule book. But two weeks out I suddenly had the weekend free and scanned the Internet for a race. I chose the full Robin Hood, rather than say…
My invitation, courtesy of marvellous promotional staffing agency Mash, was a little short on details, keeping the event itself lightly under wraps. I knew I was going to an event at a new venue, SamsungKX (King’s Cross) and I knew that the venue was definitely not a shop, and that there would be a ‘vertical…
Some invitations have a certain stand out. Could I stomach an egg mayo bagel whilst whirlybirding around the Shard in a stunt helicopter? Okay. Thank you for thinking of me Deliveroo. Put me on that rota. Without so much as Roger Moore eyebrow raise, I accepted this mission. My last invitation to London had been…
I like social running. Ultras and trail running certainly have a camaraderie vibe that is less often seen in road running. Perhaps that is because times have less meaning on the trail or trail runners come out for the countryside as much as the exercise? Anyhow, a fun run on my horizon in October is…
Every now and then, club running turns up a classic occasion, and that was the case 10 days ago when a gang of unlikely dynamos turned out for Chippenham Harriers for the Road League 5 x 10K race at the Two Tunnels. We could not have been less heralded at the outset nor more proud…
August 2019 I have just finished a tour of some of the best places in live in Europe. I’d like to call it an EU tour, but though I travelled seamlessly through it, I did go via Switzerland. Still, we started and finished in the EU. Setting out as a group of four, each leg…
Written in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote in 2016, this letter to Boris Johnson remains as true today, as it was then and as a consequence this letter is often revived online. Now, after the man has finally built his own cabinet, I am reviving it. Not a word of the below has…
An Interview with food and drink revolutionary Craig Sams Fashion, we understand, is cyclical. Certainly, today’s growing enthusiasm for overnight oats and green tea is a phenomenon that 75-year old hip entrepreneur Craig Sams has seen before. Craig’s 1960s saw him fascinated by microbiotic food, driven by the yin and yang of dining and serving…
With the 50-year anniversary of the moon landings being celebrated, I have heard a great deal of opinion about Neil Armstrong and the anxiety his notoriety caused him including one industry expert who then said that Buzz Aldrin had found fame easier to take. Aldrin, now 89, is certainly not a shy personality, but depression…
The Beacon’s Way… tldr – I have just completed my first 100 mile+ ultra, the self-navigating and trail and off-trail route through the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains, with 22,000ft of elevation. I finished in 37hrs and 15 minutes in 16th place in a race which some 66% did not finish and am now the…
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