Published: 25/05/2026 By Claire DiLieto
I recently completed what was one of the most difficult mental and physical challenges I have undertaken to date, walking continuously 100 kilometres from London to Brighton to raise money for Dementia UK. Starting from Deer Park in Richmond at 8am Saturday morning and finishing at 12:13pm on the Sunday afternoon, it was a tough 28 hours and 13 minute but with grit and determination and the wonderful people walking alongside me, I was able to complete my challenge and raise an incredible amount of money for charity.Due to the intense heat (we just happened to be experiencing a 34C heatwave over this weekend), keeping hydrated was key, however the ability to carry enough water to do so was somewhat challenging. Despite many training walks leading up to the event, blisters started to form around the 35km mark and by 44km a visit to the medics, at one of the on-route stops was in order. They taped me up and sent me on my way with encouraging words and good wishes, and I remember thinking what a great bunch of people they are!
Around 9:30pm Saturday evening the fatigue really started to kick in. Having been exposed to the hot sunshine all day, despite people spraying us with garden hoses and offering us ice cold water, we were all starting to struggle with minor heat stroke and a severe lack of energy. At around 11pm we reached Tully’s Farm, which was the 58km dinner stop and this enabled us to rest for a while and ‘carb up’ to keep us going throughout the night. I have never seen so many ‘broken’ people around me in my life and the dropout rate of people who could no longer continue their challenge was immense.
By 5:30am on Sunday morning, having made it through the night over tough terrain and endless games of ‘Snog, Marry, avoid’ and ‘Never have I ever’ to keep us awake, we reached our breakfast stop. We were also all a little bit broken by this point and had to dig really deeply both physically and emotionally, however, by 11am when we could see Brighton racecourse in the far distance, our spirits rose and we kept ploughing on until finally we crossed the finish line.
There were tears, pain and fatigue, however the elation we all experienced in actually completing this challenge in such tough conditions was immense and something I think we will all remember for the rest of our lives!
