If anyone would like to sponsor us, my just giving.com site is still running (see link).

We will all be carrying buckets and hoping to collect £1500 minimum.

Also, if anyone can spare time to come to London to help empty our buckets please contact me.

It is a charity event where people can pay 10 euros to hire a chip (unless entered in the 8 days or 24 hours) and run, jog or walk as often as they like day or night during the week. The circuit becomes very busy in the lunch hour and early evening so at times it is very difficult to get round but you have to deal with that as best you can.

A French chum, David Le Forestier, who lives in Monaco had offerred to sponsor me 1 euro for every kilometre so I was hoping to complete at least 200km during the 6 days.

My friends Alan Young and Tim Rainey were already there when I arrived, busy crewing for William Sichel from Orkney who is ranked no 2 in the world for multi day events. They were already showing signs of sleep deprivation! Also there when I arrived was Eleanor Robinson, crewing for Richard Brown.

There were several runners taking part that I had met in previous years (this was my third time here) and quite a few new faces.Last years lady winner from Australia, Sarah Barnett was running and doing very well with a bit of help from Alan when William was sleeping!

Three British ladies were coming at the weekend to take part in the 24 hour race, Sandra Brown (Richards wife), Kathy Crilley (100 Km Association stalwart) and Lindsay Stewart ( a friend from the West Midlands).

My plan was at some point during the event (depending on the weather) was to do 48 hours without sleep to try and better my distance from Cologne (125.542kms or 78 miles).After doing a 7 lap recce of the circuit (not quite a mile round) on Monday evening I had dinner and retired to bed.

I decided to start my 48 hour attempt at 9-30am on Tuesday morning after a good nights sleep in my shared portacabin.I was to speed walk for the duration but jog if I needed to get past the numerous people who were walking to raise money for the local charity.I prepared my own refreshments as Alan and Tim were really busy looking after William who, by now, had taken the lead. We had a nice evening meal at 7-00pm and I then set off to go through until breakfast time hopefully without sleep.

HSH Prince Albert arrived at midnight for a run around with the race director and a couple of his staff. I tried to keep up with the group but without success however I did get a chance to have a chat with him after his run. A very nice friendly guy who, as his mother was American (the actress Grace Kelly) speaks good English.

After they had gone home there were only about 10 people going round during the night so I used my MP3 with some good music and kept going until about 6-00am when I became (unusually) very tired and needed some sleep. It was at this time that I had to admit that 48 hours without sleep is too much of a challenge for me. (I knew you couldn’t do it said Eleanor!)

After a 6 hour break I decided to carry on to see if I could achieve another 24 hours back to back. This I managed to do so I was more than happy about that.

My total distance for the 48 hour period was 138 kms considerably more than Cologne so that was acceptable.

The rest of the week was spent walking around enjoying myself, chatting with David (my sponsor) and meeting some of his friends and generally supporting the runners in the 8 day race. I also met some very nice ex pats and American ladies, some who were walking their doggies who were also wearing ‘chips’. There were also many people with pushchairs and school children.  I met my little friend from previous years, Hugo Hakkinen. The name may be familiar to Formula One fans as his dad was 3 times world champion. A very nice young lad as were his school chums.

The 24 hour runners arrived on Friday evening and started thier race at 8-00am on Saturday morning. It was a joy to see Sandra, Kathy and Lindsay in action and I walked several laps with Lindsay when she was struggling with back problems.

All too soon the whole event was finished and HSH Prince Albert arrived with his wife HSH Princess Charlene for the presentation ceremony. Before this took place though we all paraded around part of the circuit following the Royals  and a group of children representing the charity Children and Future.

Well the presentation ceremony was very exiting with prizes going to several British competitors.

Results were as follows:-

8 days

1st male  William Sichel 1002.290 kms. Approx. 621 miles

William was also the first person in the 12 year history of NFL to run 1000kms.

1st lady Sarah Barnett    913.045 kms.   Approx. 567 miles

Richard Brown was 15th with 670.024 kms. Approx. 416 miles

Pam Storey   256.751  kms.   Approx. 159 miles.

24 hours

1st man  Ludger Boewer (Italy)  218.307 kms.   Approx. 135 miles.

1st lady  Maria Fossati (Italy)   190.847 kms.     Approx 118 miles.

2nd lady  Sandra Brown    180.578 kms.     Approx. 112 miles.

Kathy Crilley  145.576 kms.    Approx. 90 miles.

Lindsay Stewart  123.141 kms.    Approx. 76 miles.

After doing a bit of sightseeing around the old market town of Oakham we had a nice pub lunch then set off for Peters house where we had our evening meal and a good nights sleep.

The Marathon started on the shore of the lake at 9-00am so we set off early the next morning to ensure a good parking place in the car part. Met a few 100 Marathon Club friends there but as it was very cold we sat in the car for a while until it was time for us to walk to the start some 20 minutes away.

There was a 7 hour limit here so I was confident of finishing before the cut off time.

Once the sun came out and the temperature got warmer I began to enjoy my run, walking up the hills and jogging the rest. Chatted to a few ‘virgins’ to give encouragement (as I do). As per usual, by halfway my legs were telling me it was much easier to walk so that’s exactly what I did!

The route was undulating and very scenic and I really enjoyed it. Eventually I met up with Ivor Davies from the 100 Marathon Club who was trundling along at about my pace so we stayed together virtually until the end and I crossed the line in 6-23-43, well within the limit. Gil came to meet me, he had been sitting in the car wrapped up in a blanket having finished well over an hour ahead of me. We went back to Peters for the night and motored home the next day via the Duxford Air Museum which was well worth the visit. We saw amongst others a Spitfire and (my favourite) a Lancaster Bomber.

All in all a good race to prepare for Monaco and a nice weekend away together.

Text to 70070 my code is PAMS48. You can donate anything from £1 upwards.

Many thanks.

As this will be me last big event ( in future I will only do a couple of long races a year) I have decided to try and raise some more money for my charity Advance International Ministries. If you would like to sponsor me follow the link to www.justgiving.com. I will be visiting Kiyindi again in January, perhaps for the last time. 

Thank you.

Me and Kaja

One of my favourite cities is Liverpool and I have waited a long time for a Marathon to take place there having run the Liverpool Half in 1996. Finally, earlier this year it was announced that indeed there was to be a Marathon this year. I reckon I was one of the first people to enter. Even though the entry fee was £46 I decided that this opportunity would be too good to miss. A very nice young Polish lass, Kaja Kosla, who I met at a couple of previous events kindly offered to let me stay with her for a couple of nights. I managed to get a return train ticket for only £19-80 so I worked out well. My dear friend Elaine had also entered so we decided to run together, she was staying in a nice hotel close to the finish line. The race started in Birkenhead Park on the Wirral so on Sunday morning we joined thousands of other runners to travel by train to the Park. There we met several other 100 Marathon Club runners and we all lined up in designated ‘pens’  waiting for the start. Unfortunately, due to some problems with the Police clearing the roads, we were 45 minutes late starting but soon all this was forgotten as we ran along a really nice route on the Wirral to the Queensway Tunnel at 11 miles. Those of you who know me well will remember how much I love running in tunnels, having run the Elbe Tunnel Marathon in Hamburg several times. This one was approx. 2 miles long, it was brilliant. Earlier in the race Elaine and I had met a young lady, Emily,  who was running her first Marathon. Having done insufficient long runs she thought she would struggle to finish so we decided to help her along keeping her amused with our tales of previous adventures. When we all began to tire we jog/walked and kept going to the finish line outside the famous Liver Building. Emily was really chuffed to finish her first Marathon and Elaine and I were pleased that we were able to have helped her achieve this. One of the best city Marathons I have ever done, I would certainly recommend it. Nice medal, goody bag and t shirt so good value for the money paid  to enter.