Alastair Smith: Legend

Or nutter depending on what you think of heroic physical efforts!

Words: Paul Chapman

Images: Alastair Smith

On Saturday 10 June this year, Alastair Smith set off from York to Chesterfield. ‘There’s nothing special about that’ I hear you say, well I’ll just add that he was running it for charity, all 100km (that’s over 62 miles in old money) and it was the hottest day of the year!

“When I set the date to take on the run the weather was looking Ok but as the day got closer temperatures started to rise,” explains Alastair. “I was raising funds for Shelter, the housing and homeless charity so I couldn’t back out, I’ll just carry some more fluids I decided.”

Alastair is no stranger to endurance runs, he’s run the length of the Chesterfield canal, 77km, Gainsborough to Chesterfield and often clocks up a half marathon on one of his usual runs. Alastair has clocked up 12,500km running in the last six years, the distance from Chesterfield to Bali!

“I did a couple of marathon length runs as training and I often take in a half marathon climb up Harewood Road or Ashover so felt confident I had the distance in my legs.”

“It’s hard to find the time needed to train for a challenge like this,” says Alastair. “The canal run was on my 40th birthday and raised money for Rethink, a mental health charity I was working with at the time.

“COVID restricted the time we could spend outdoors so I fancied a long run challenge. My wife works as a psychologist with younger children, and I work with NHS hospitals so both of us see first-hand the need for funds for charities supporting people in need.”

“The heat on the day just made the whole thing a notch or two tougher than I had planned for. I used Google maps to plot a route that took in as many paths and smaller lanes as possible, it took me from York, to Selby, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield with two checkpoints where I’d meet my wife and son for refuelling and encouragement.” bit.ly/Alastair100km

I asked for any highlights or lowlights. “There were two low points, realising I was behind schedule for checkpoint one so pushed on to try and make sure Sarah and Blake weren’t hanging around in the heat, and then arriving at Rother Valley Country Park, which was my second scheduled stop with just 15km to go, the only problem was it was closed so I had to detour 4km to meet up with Sarah.

“I needed a constant stream of energy and fluid, having to carry it all between stops, this added weight making things tougher.

"I know people race across the deserts in extreme heat - but I wasn't expecting to face similar challenges on a run from York to Chesterfield!"

Alastair arrived back in Chesterfield at 10pm, he’d covered over 100km in 12 hours 50 minutes and so far, has raised £583 of his modest £150 target! Needless to say, completing the run was his highlight.

If you fancy topping up his total a bit more just click the QR code below or go the website listed.

Looking for his next challenge Alastair mentioned Hadrian’s Wall, that’s just 135km (84 miles) and comes with 1,600 meters of ascent. Expect to see him again on these pages if he sets a date for this one.

Congrats Alastair, S40 Local thinks you are officially a legend.

From top: Start in York; Selby (24km); Doncaster (42km); Halfway (50km, but middle of nowhere); Sarah and Blake meeting me at Cusworth Hall (56km); Micklebring (67km); Rother Valley (86km); Brimington (100km); the time, distance and route from Strava; step count for the day.