192 miles in 7 days

Chris Wright, really good friend of Treeline and one of our amazing chalet chefs from this season is undertaking a huge feat in June and we want to support it as much as possible. Chris and his best friend Billy are going to run the Wainwright Coast to Coast; 190 miles in 7 days from St Bees head, Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire.

From 16th to 22nd June, Chris & Billy will be averaging a marathon a day for seven days and conquering the Lake District fells, the Pennines and the North Yorkshire moors. They aim to raise £10,000 for the Children’s Eye Cancer Trust, a cause very close to their hearts.  Billy’s son and Chris’s godson Walter was sadly diagnosed with Retinoblastoma (a rare form of eye cancer) at 6 months old. Very sad and scary news but luckily, it was discovered early on and treatment began almost straight away. The chemotherapy was obviously very hard and distressing for such a young baby and for new parents, Billy & Christin.

And so it was around this time Billy and Chris decided to do something to raise money for the Children’s Eye Cancer Trust. It had to be something challenging and interesting so they decided on running the Wainwright Coast to Coast – a huge undertaking in the hope they could raise lots of money for a very worthwhile cause.

In Chris’s own words, he says…Having never run a full marathon, let alone a multi day ultra marathon, we knew this was going to be hard. I was still in England at this point and started running a little but would soon leave for Morzine to work for Treeline Chalets. Over the last four months I have been working in Chalet Plan de Pierrys, cooking and hosting and loving every minute, and also riding more powder than you can shake a stick at. It has been difficult to tear myself away from the mountain and go running, but I have managed to build up my fitness massively, and the runs have got gradually longer and harder. 8 and 10 mile runs are now pretty standard, including a lot of ascent and descent. A few weeks ago, I ran 16 miles, out of Morzine, through Les Gets and down toward Taninge then up toward Praz de Lys. At the 8 mile point I turned around to head back. It was a great run until I came back through Les Gets and I began to struggle, having not eaten enough and not taken any water to drink. I hit the wall at around 13 miles but gritted my teeth and made it back home. Lessons were learned about hydration and eating properly, the key to success I think.

A few weeks later, before leaving Morzine at the end of the winter to return home to Yorkshire, Chris managed to run all the way up to Avoriaz, which he had been working up to all season. In fact he felt so good on the descent, he decided to finish it off by running up Valley de la Manche too. He totalled a run of 21.5 miles with 1100 m ascent and descent in 3 hr 13 mins – amazing stuff so looks like his alpine training has paid off!

We really want to support Chris and Billy and help them raise as much money as possible for such a deserving cause. If you would like to support Chris and Billy on this huge undertaking, you can donate at www.justgiving.com/billy-white-chris-wright. Any donations would be gratefully received and put to good use.

You can also follow their progress through their blog www.coasttocoast2013.wordpress.com.

We shall keep you updated on how the week long multi-marathon mission goes. Best of luck guys!