RAC patrol passes halfway point in bid to complete first ever unaided JOGLE run
With a lack of sleep, and pulling a pram laden with all his supplies, RAC patrol Lee Wingate from Portsmouth shed some particular personal demons when running through Moffat, a designated ‘dark sky’ town. Now back in England, he is fast clocking up the miles in his quest to become the first to run unsupported from John O’Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE).
It was when reaching Moffat on Sunday evening (10th September) that he took what he refers to ‘as the most important picture of my whole journey’.
In explaining why, he posted: “Two years ago my pram broke in Queensferry and I turned it into a rickshaw and dragged my overweight pram all the way up Moffat; it was -6c at night, my shoulder had gone solid from being in one position holding the pram all day, but I was determined and moving.
This part of the route is also constant incline for 15-20 miles so it was tough. But in that weather at night I wanted to get close to Moffat and camp there. The back wheel broke off. With no way of fixing it, I had to push the pram to the side and take what I wanted of value then had to break the news to the family I was running for, that I couldn’t carry on.
It was one of the worst experiences of my life and has affected me the last two years in a way.”
Today I managed to get there and it was like a weight lifting off me.”
To qualify as being 100 per cent unsupported, Lee cannot accept any help whatsoever. The rules state he must remain entirely alone from beginning to end, relying on his own resources and carrying everything he needs with him in the ‘pram’. This includes all food, drink and equipment (as shopping, too, is off-limits); he will have to wild camp and, in an added challenge, will need to collect all his water from natural resources such as rivers and streams.
Lee is running the 860 miles or so completely unaided over 18-21 days, raising funds for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity in memory of his grandfather who was a Royal Marines Commando.
His many months of preparation have included running between 30 and 80 miles a week, sometimes running a half marathon before starting work in his RAC van.
He also did several shorter runs as ‘real-world’ tests after which he had to make quite a few alterations to the design of his now modified, self-made pram.
“By this point I had accepted it wasn’t going to be pretty, but it would be efficient. My wife and kids joked it was Frankenstein’s monster so the pram then got the name ‘Frankie’!
While on holiday in Fuerteventura this summer, and as part of his practice programme, he also clocked the world’s fastest known time for running unsupported between El Cotillo and Correlejo.
“You have to get every aspect right. When you tackle endurance or multi-day challenges like this, it becomes more about the mental strength than physical. If you aren’t mentally in the right place, it will make everything more difficult and every problem bigger than it actually is. it’s always easy to talk yourself out of finishing something – that’s the easy route There will be high’s and low’s, but I’m ready for it.”
To ensure that his unsupported run is not jeopardised in any way, Lee asks people not to approach him should they catch sight of him along the way, but rather to show their support by making a donation via his fundraising page.
His progress can be tracked here.
