Thames Path

that's fair enough.

Well, you have given me a dilemma because we've got, so Five Rivers is two weeks after the Thames Path next year.

Okay, yeah.

And my mate's doing the Thames Path and he's saying, do you want to run it? And I'm like, or could I do both? That's a bit nuts, isn't it? Two weeks after.

Of

course you can.

Um, uh, you know, nobody asked the question, "What replaces the family farm?" And I live in that world, and I...

And we have a footpath here on this farm, um, along the Thames Path, and- We get visitors from a, you know, from across America, Australia, New Zealand, I mean everywhere, [laughs] walk through here.

But the ones that really are very emotional about being able to walk through a farm are the Americans and the New Zealanders because, and the Australians, because they can't do it there, because they're basically privatized, uh, agriculture.

And as a result, they're behind high fences, and you don't see what...

So mate, congratulations and remind everyone exactly what it is you've been doing the last 24 hours

thanks mate um i was saying things have got so bad i'd rather walk 100 kilometers in 24 hours than watch russell martin's leicester city play um but yeah thanks to everyone who donated um raised 750 pound for fight for sight which are a charity that help people impacted by vision loss um and yeah did uh thames path ultra marathon and it was horrendous it was like after six after 60 kilometers was just a world of pain but i was doing it with there was nine of us who were doing it and the other lads they're still playing local football they're not runners so we all decided to to walk it um for various charities and we raised well over 10 grand so amazing so proud of all my friends for doing it i'm amazed that some some of them finished it to be honest um

But,

yeah, we left around Putney Bridgeway, left there at eight in the morning, got in, rolled in at about quarter past seven this morning.

Definitely next year I'll do another one.

And there is talks with Danny and Julian, maybe, about going for the Thames path, so a much more flat one, and go for a time.

But this is just in the pipeline at the moment.

Oh, on the note of the fueling, I gave the Hi-5 carb electrolyte mix.

So the runners all register at Goring Village Hall.

It's a really nice atmosphere and they walk about 200 metres down to the Thames Path, right underneath the bridge that spans the river between Goring and Streetly.

And if you're running the Thames Path 100 or the Autumn 100, obviously you cross that bridge afterwards.

in the race this time however they head south in the opposite direction of thames path very quickly turning off of the thames path to avoid a section of subsidence and then making their way back onto the thames path on on the bridleway section to witchurch upon thames which used to be a checkpoint on the thames path 100 and the autumn 100 back in the day but which we've now moved to pangborn So then they're off and they're running up the hill away from the Thames and into the Chiltern Hills and making their way across to the village of Tokers Green, checkpoint one.

And in that first section of the course, and it's a long section of the course, they encounter all the kind of features that they'll see on the way round.

So that first section is pretty much exactly 10 miles and features a decent amount of elevation change, bits of single track, wonderful woodland running, fields, some sections on country roads, beautiful dry valleys, views.

The sun is setting just behind the clouds.

I'm on the Thames Path on the Surrey-London border.

We've got people out on rowboats on the water.

They're just shouting in the background there.

And I am absolutely delighted to say that yet again, for the umpteenth consecutive year, Western States have announced that all four of our regular in-season 100 milers will be qualifiers for the 2028 Western States 100.

So the 2027 Thames Path 100, South Downsway 100, North Downsway 100 and Autumn 100 will all qualify you for the lottery for the 2028 Western States Endurance Run.

Get that email every year from John Medinger, who I've known for a very long time, previously owned Ultra Running Magazine.

on the board at Western States.

Of course, Dave and Mark go way back there at uni together and happen to pace and help each other to some incredible results over the years.

Dave has made it his mission to run all of the National Trails as fast as he can, essentially, but complete them in a non-stop sort of single effort style.

And fans of the Thames Path will remember last year, Dave ran to the 50k to the start of the Thames Path 100, finished in the top 10 and then continued to the source in Lashlade and broke the Thames Path National Trail FKT or record record.

Dave's new office diet record is 44.18.

Well, it's already gone into many different winding roads.

We've talked about walking the Thames Path, which I would love to do.

That sounds delightful.

But I know, Simon, you gave us some feedback from one of our earlier shows when we were talking about ITDR.

Yeah.

So we're gonna go back to London, because now we're on the Thames River and the Thames River Walk.

Pritchard's sharing information about the interviews with Wexler's female students.

Yeah, 'cause we're at a different outside cafe that is not the outside cafe that we were at before.