It’s all The Weirwolf ’s fault! The reason I spent the first Saturday in September chugging around a woodland in the searing sun and pouring rain is all down to the legendary Dave Weir whom I’d gone to support when he raced in the London 2012 Paralympic marathon. While howling Dave home to what turned out to be his fourth gold medal, I met an equally vocal Weirwolf supporter called Ben Scott, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. Ben is now the co-race director of the St Albans Stampede, a 12-hour ultra, so I was thrilled to be given the chance to add a 105th marathon medal to my collection without having to stray too far from home – St Albans in Hertfordshire is just 25 miles from London.
Starting at the very civilised time of 9am, we could leave our belongings in the Scout hut Race HQ, where a very impressive all-day buffet (think Pringles, biscuits, cake and watermelon) was laid out. After breakfasting on free bacon butties served up by beaming volunteers, we started out in blazing sunshine up a steep gravel hill that looked like a riverbed, and then proceeded to follow a roughly rectangular, traffic-free four-mile course that cut through Heartwood Forest (the UK’s largest new forest of native tree species that also features clumps of ancient woodland) and Nomansland Common. The latter has a fascinating history as it was the haunt of Katherine Ferrers, a notorious highwaywoman who terrorised the residents of Hertfordshire and was immortalised in The Wicked Lady, a 1983 film starring Faye Dunaway.
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