Running Up That Hill by Vassos Alexander

Author:Vassos Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

11. eastbourne

James Elson is the man who runs the SDW100. We’ve spoken a few times on the phone in the week or two leading up to the race, I see him briefly at several points along the way, call him when I contrive to get lost, and meet him properly at the finish. He’s another excellent human being; this sport seems to breed them. He organises eight major ultra-races every year, runs a kit and equipment shop, records a weekly podcast, coaches keen amateurs and competes for GB. But when I ask him for one story that defines his ultra-running career, he doesn’t even feature in it.

For me it’s just about the people crossing our finishing line. Probably the most emotional finish we had was two ladies who were running on behalf of a children’s charity down in Dorset. They look after children who’ve lost their parents to cancer. These kids have got nobody, they’re being cared for by these wonderful people, and they all came down to the track to see these two ladies finish.

You just can’t even begin to fathom the sort of depth of emotion that’s going on for the runners, for the kids, and for the staff, everybody there. And that is an amazing thing. On the selfish side, you’re giving runners the opportunity to experience something incredible, but when it goes beyond that to reaching out to friends and family and literally changing people’s lives, that means a great deal and it’s definitely the most fulfilling part of what we do. The part that makes it all worthwhile.

Last week we had a guy running after the loss of his son, in his memory, and then he went straight on to hang his finisher buckle on his son’s grave. Where do you begin with that stuff? There are also many stories of triumph, which are wonderful – but perhaps the sadder tales have greater depth of meaning. Of course I’ve felt great achievement at some of the things I’ve done myself too, but that is so purely selfish that I think it’s very short-lived in relation to the other things, if that makes sense.

He’s getting emotional even as he speaks. You can tell he feels it. To give him a chance to recover his composure as much as anything, I ask a prosaic question about how and why he went from competing in 100-mile races to organising them. A prosaic question, with an enlightening answer.

I went to the US to do a couple of 100-milers to qualify for Badwater. So for me it was a means to an end at first. But then I realised that here in the UK, we were missing that scene. We didn’t have many 100-milers and those we did have were unmarked, had little support and we were asking people to orienteer or navigate for the distance. I felt that was adding a component that didn’t necessarily need to be part of it. Of course navigating, map reading, it’s a hugely alluring part of many UK challenges, for example the Dragon’s Back Race.

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