Kissing His Way Along the Cotswolds

Having recently left the dreaming spires for a life in the City, I have been looking to exercise the competitive muscles that were shaped at Oxford and celebrated at Vincent's Club. I have been spending many hours in the Cotswolds with my partner, Rosie and decided that the Cotswold Way, a 102 mile National Trail that starts at the Village Hall in Chipping Campden and ends at Bath Abbey would be a worthy challenge.

Not wanting to make the challenge too easy I decided I would organise my own attempt, rather than waiting until the race in September. I did, however, check the historical times and found that 27:30 would be a worthy goal, being the median time for the races along the Cotswold Way since 2018. So 50% of runners that completed the race were faster than 27:30 and 50% slower.

I set off at 18:00 on Saturday evening with fellow Vincent's Member Hugo Fleming (Modern Pentathlon, Athletics, 2013-2017) from Chipping Campden. We trotted through the beautiful evening, and Hugo put me way ahead of pace. Ahead of the fastest time I had considered possible, 22:30, which some bloke I met while jogging on the trail had claimed he had done back in 2017! 

Throughout the attempt I was supported by my partner and a gaggle of pals, 11 of whom ran with me, who kept me watered and fed through the night and into Sunday. A special group of three school friends did the night shift keeping me watered and upright from 22:30-05:30. The heat was fierce and my brother pulled me through a difficult leg getting me to Cold Ashton. 

From there I was joined by the Olympic Gold Medalist, Kate French, who kindly jogged slowly alongside me to the Abbey where I was greeted by friends, family, and a celebratory bottle of champagne which ended up being sprayed on the lucky crowds of visitors to Somerset's Crown Jewel. I completed the Cotswold Way in a time of 22 hours 19 minutes, which was much faster than I had thought and would have put me top 5 in the races that have been running since 2013.

One side-mission was to count the kissing gates along the trail. It turns out that there are 131 operational kissing gates along the way. I was kissed at every single one. The highest density of kissing gates was between Hawkesbury Upton and Tomarton, where there were 19. I will be returning to that section with my partner, Rosie.

This challenge formed part of my personal goals that I set myself this year. Other goals included delivering a lamb, which I achieved in March, visiting the Isle of Skye and raising £10,000 for Helen and Douglas House, the Children's Hospice in Oxford. Helen & Douglas House is a local charity that helps local families cope with the challenges of looking after a terminally ill baby or child who will die prematurely. They are a home from home for the patients and their families, and provide round-the-clock care in a warm, loving environment. If you can, please consider supporting them here:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/tommy-lees-cotswold-way100

Vive les Vincent's,

Tommy