By Teresa Dent CBE, GWCT Chief Executive
4 minute read
Harry Townshend ran 100 miles all in one go. And he did it in aid of GWCT (his JustGiving fundraising page is here). Even though I saw him do some of it, and kept track of all of it, I find it hard to get my head round what he did.
Harry at the start, 0700 Saturday morning
I was thinking of going to see him off at 0700 on Saturday morning (10th July) but I was told he needed to sneak quietly out of the house to avoid waking his two young children (2 years old and nine months). So instead I got up, did the weekly supermarket shop, went to my spin class, showered, put in a couple of loads of washing and drove down to have lunch with his father, James, and other family. It rained nearly all the way. I knew Harry was running on footpaths so I had awful visons of wet, slippery, muddy paths – how was he going to run in this weather and stay safe?
Harry Townshend, Teresa Dent and Arthur Scott at 1336, after Harry’s first 26 miles
I met Harry as he ran alone to his designated ‘pause’ point at 1336. By then he had run the equivalent of a marathon. He was 5 seconds a mile faster than he had expected to be. A few minutes later Harry started running again having eaten an ice-cream and restocked on water in his pack. This time with a school friend, Arthur Scott from Rotherfield Park, who many GWCT supporters will know of. Arthur has demonstrated an even deeper passion for wild grey partridge recovery than GWCT scientists, and - believe me - that is saying something.
Arthur ran another marathon with Harry. They had been in their school athletics club together, Arthur was Captain of the Cross Country team. By this time I had driven the 54 miles home (and tried to imagine running it – simply impossible), watched the Ladies Doubles at Wimbledon, done an hours gardening, and exchanged an anxious text with James to check on Harry and Arthur. James said they were both ok, but that it was tough going for Harry. Harry ran his third marathon while I cooked dinner, watched some silly film, went to bed and slept for hours. Harry was still running and my brain hurt to think about it.
Harry (left) and Xander running through the night – this is the 0100 ‘pause’
I found myself wide awake on Sunday morning at 0200 at which point Harry was still running but due to have a ten minute break after finishing his third marathon with William Scholes, and before starting his fourth marathon with another school friend who I had met at lunch, Xander. I was awake again at 0600 and hoped Harry was still running.
William Scholes and Harry. William ran the 3rd marathon with Harry
At least I think I hoped; it all seemed so impossible I think I also hoped he might have stopped, because how could anyone, even that tall, slightly skinny young man with the huge smile, still be running? I managed not to text his father again until 26 minutes after Harry’s designated finish time of 0700 on Sunday morning. By then Harry had stopped running, and he had finished the 100 miles. “Understandably knackered but spirits high” read his proud and relieved father’s text.
I have said before that running a charity (excuse the pun) is quite a humbling experience, so many people are incredibly supportive and kind, but I have never been so humbled as I have been by this extraordinary young man, the friends who ran with him, and the family, especially his wife Alice, who supported him. His was a feat beyond my imagining. Whilst you and I lived a day and night of our lives, Harry ran and ran and ran, from 0702 on Saturday morning to 0636 on Sunday morning to be precise.
There are lots of parallels one can draw between Harry’s run, nature conservation and species recovery. The latter two are always a marathon, possibly sequential marathons, never a sprint; one has to set a goal and keep going, never give up; it requires constant effort; there are quite a few uphills on the journey and it never feels like there are many downhills; one needs a good team, support and nurturing; to succeed is hard, not necessarily very visible in the grand scheme of things but very personally rewarding; it is often a case of just putting one foot in front of the other, keeping going towards the goal. That said, Harry’s achievement is, to my mind, quite unparalleled.
If you would like to show your support for Harry you can give via his JustGiving page here >
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