Long run SUNday – feeling hot, hot, hot!

The sun was blazing down on the beautiful Wiltshire countryside as we lined up for the annual Hackpen Hill 10K Trail Walk/Run. This completely off road route uses the tracks and farm fields skirting the historic Ridgeway trail and surrounding areas of natural beauty and under the clear blue September skies, the scenery looked spectacular - well worth the early Sunday start. For Mike and Ashleigh this was their first race with a bib number – good practice ahead of the Swindon Half Marathon, which is rapidly approaching!

Maybe it was the heat, but what we didn’t expect was for Donald Trump to turn up and say how thrilled he was to be in Sweden and then be joined by Boris Johnson. Hold on, was that really what happened? We know that it’s a popular event but two world leaders? Well yes, in the form of Rory Bremner who was the surprise guest who started the race, entertained the crowd, and shared the inspiring story of one runner who was given the all clear two weeks ago after 5 years of cancer treatment. What a fantastic story – and hopefully the lives of many others will be changed because of fund raising events like this.

We set off down a dusty track with that hill getting closer and closer. Once we’d conquered that, we were rewarded with stunning views across Wiltshire and a much needed water station. It was a very hot day and Jo soon realised that lounging by a pool for a week doesn’t really cut it as hot weather training! But there was soon another Oasis in the desert-like fields – not a champagne supernova but very welcome prosecco, which gave us all a spring (or fizz?) in our step as we headed off through stubble fields (collecting lots of straw in our trainers – we all looked a little bit more like Worzel Gummidge by the end!) and ploughed on.

As we neared the end, we were warned that there was another hilly bit, and soon discovered that the wind was in our faces too! Windy and hilly – or as Sam likes to say – “it’s a bit willy!”.

It certainly was willy, but the thought of the amazing cakes at the finish kept us all going and we were soon collecting our medals and tucking in to bacon baps and cake in the sunshine before heading off home, where at least one of us - Graham - had a well earned nap!

There are more GoodGym Swindon races coming up - and there’s often cake too – so get the dates in your diaries for

• Swindon Half Marathon – if you’re not signed up to run, come and join the cheerleading squad!

• Trust10 at Avebury – another beautiful run in the countryside with cake!

• Swindon 10K – a flat course, great for beginners and PB chasers!

• Santa vs Rudolph Run – raising money for Brighter Futures and the Wiltshire Air Ambulance