While most of us were putting our feet up and relaxing over the Bank Holiday, Girls Games Teacher Sarah Page had other, far greater plans. Taking part in the Isle of Wight 106k Challenge, Sarah spent the majority of her time off from Amesbury pounding the white cliffs, sandy beaches, and undulating coastal paths to complete this ultra-marathon.
In 2017 Lauren Dover and Sarah undertook the Cotswolds Way Challenge which was a fantastic challenge, which they both enjoyed and was run for Action AT. After this Sarah contemplated hanging up her competition trainers, however in October 2018 Sarah’s friend tempted her to take part in an Ultra Marathon for another charity close to her heart – CCHS, a condition affecting her Godson.
Training started in November and fitting runs in in-between work and home life was tricky at times. 10 weeks ago Sarah was put in touch with a fantastic long distance trainer, by Mark Edwards – part of the Amesbury Tennis Academy. All the hard work paid off, including the Brighton Marathon, completing this in a mere 3hours 34miutes and giving Sarah her Personal Best!
Sadly, Sarah’s friend had to pull out of the race, due to injury. Sarah, however, persevered, even though the thought of running solo made her a little apprehensive. Setting herself an ambitious target to complete the Ultra Marathon in 15-16 hours Sarah was over the moon to achieve ‘first lady’ at the 52k checkpoint. Spurred on by Amesbury’s Gilly Heel, Sarah kept on going and finished second lady and position 18 overall.
Sarah comments ‘The race was an amazing experience and all the encouragement, sponsorship and numerous text messages really kept me going. I feel very lucky to have such fantastic support around me. I’ve promised no more challenges…..but let’s wait and see!’.
The Full Challenge started at Chale, in the south of the island. The course was 106km long and over 2,100 meters climb, making it a very tough challenge indeed!
Congratulations Sarah – you are an inspiration to us all.
