This year my ‘100’ started 3 weeks early volunteering on the marshals’ 100 following a commitment at the end of the 2025 Flower of Suffolk event. It was a busy evening shift at Checkpoint 4 (Cowden) with 44 participants needing feeding and watering, just as I had done in 9 previous events, so I knew how they felt. On the main event there will be over 500 walkers, joggers and runners passing through served by a band of dedicated volunteers without whom the event wouldn’t happen, so a massive thank you to all of them.

The Marshall’s event kickstarted my 100-mile week of focussed training by recceing stages 5-8 on the following day and more during the week. It’s nice to see the full route during daylight and know where I’m supposed to be going as the route description was confusing in a few places….

This year’s event has been named the Hunnypot 100 to mark the centenary of the first official collection of stories about Winnie the Pooh and his friends in Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest. The route starts at Meopham in the North Downs of Kent, climbs over the Greensand Ridge into the less hilly Weald crosses into Sussex to explore the Ashdown Forest before returning through the Weald to the Greensand Ridge and North Downs again. The route is 100.8 miles (a mile shorter than last year, which doesn’t sound much but is 15 minutes when I’m walking at the end) and has approximately 11,250ft / 3,429m of ascent (compared with 3,691ft / 1,125m in 2025).

Fast forward 3 weeks, it’s the night before the event. The training has gone well, however the weather forecast is going to be hot at 28 / 29 degrees, so I’m now apprehensively looking forward to it. Such temperatures provide a different set of challenges such as hydration, chaffing and cognitive impairment from heat stroke, so I’m very pleased to have recce’d the route.