What is Endure24 Reading?
Endure24 Reading is the UK’s biggest 24-hour relay race, held at Wasing Park near Reading. It can be attempted solo, in pairs or in teams of up to 12. Runners tackle an undulating 8-kilometre course, with the race starting at noon on Saturday and runners needing to start their final lap before noon on Sunday. The objective is simple: complete as many laps as possible before time runs out.
It sounds straightforward. It isn’t.
How we got here
The idea came from Dan Wh, who had done Endure 24 Reading the previous year. He and Carolyn came up with in Dan’s own words a “frankly pretty bonkers plan to bring the Striders on tour to Reading.”
After several months of recruiting, team building and logistics that felt like herding cats at points, we ended up with 21 runners across four teams on race day.
The teams
The four Worthing Striders teams lining up were:
The Stridinio Six — Tom, Simon, Steve, Hannah and Alex H. Sharp-eyed readers will note that is five people. Our sixth member was unable to attend but we kept the name anyway to remember him!
Striding Strong, All Day Long — Dan B, Dom, Dan K and Hayley. With a late helping hand from Dan Wa, who was supposed to be on a different team entirely but clearly had energy to burn.
The Good Vibe Stride Tribe — Michelle, Carolyn, Ella, Fran, Anita and Dan Wa. These guys showed up in style, with orange tutus and light-up fairy crowns making an appearance (though Dan drew the line at tutus and fairy lights!).
Worthing Striders Dream Team — Dan Wh, Emily, Mary, Amanda and Alex W. Alex is not officially a Worthing Strider, but she was for this weekend!
Making the most of our away day
Five Striders — Dom, Mich, Dan B, Anita and Carolyn ran Greenham Common parkrun at 9am, three hours before the race began. A collective 25 kilometres of warm-up. Many of us went for a wild swim and sauna session on the beautiful Wasing Estate. The next generation of Worthing Striders also made an appearance, with four children of club members running the on-site mini mile event.
On the course
The 8km loop at Wasing Park has a personality of its own. It begins with the Hill of
No Return; an uphill climb from the start lined with flags, where this year, the
Worthing Striders flag was on proud display. From there you pass through Church View crossing, drop into Pace Gully, tackle the short sharp rise of Little Steep, and emerge into Far Away Forest around the halfway point. A music van called Vdub Vibes and a water stop provide a brief morale injection before the course delivers its main event: Heartbreak Hill.
Carolyn described it perfectly:
“Heartbreak Hill. We need only mention it briefly. The name is entirely accurate. The only redeeming feature was knowing that once you’d conquered it, it was mostly downhill to the finish line and a waiting teammate.”
After the descent through Deep Dark Swamp, Paices Wood and Fairy Forest, you hit the 7km marker and then the Twisty Turny Bit before emerging back through the campsite. The 850m walk between the Worthing Striders camp and the changeover zone added, for most runners, an extra mile on every outing.
Mary captured what the full experience felt like:
“A test of resilience, camaraderie and team spirit. Battled the wind, rain, cold, no sleep and ran four five-mile circuits through both day and night — from quiet darkness to the sun rising with the birds’ dawn chorus.”
Through the night
The weather threw everything at the field. Sunshine gave way to rain, wind and mud. The cheerful atmosphere of the first few laps began to feel harder to sustain as tiredness set in.
The night was hard for everyone. As Mich put it:
“I really thought after the 3am lap there was nothing left.”
The teams pulled together to encourage each other, even as we struggled to do things that are normally simple, like eat, drink and sleep. But people kept going. Carolyn found her highlight in the dark: “Running in the dark was challenging, but there was something magical about the fairy-lit forest.”
Dan Wh demonstrated the true Endure24 spirit when he completed one of his laps overnight in a full dinosaur costume, with an unscheduled stop at the paramedic station around kilometre five for reasons we will leave to the imagination!
The results
Across the race, the four Worthing Striders teams combined for 99 laps and a total of 792 kilometres (495 miles) covered on the course alone.
The Stridinio Six led the way with 31 laps, finishing 66th overall from 1,230 teams. The fastest individual lap of the day was shared between Tom and Dan
Wh, both recording identical times of 35:14 on their opening laps — although Dan did cross the finish line first. Striding Strong, All Day Long completed 24 laps, Good Vibe Stride Tribe 22 laps, and Worthing Striders Dream Team 22 laps.
The final lap
My favourite lap of the entire weekend wasn’t one I ran. Right at the end, one member from each team (Ella, Alex H, Dan B and Dan Wh) set off together on the final loop. Within the first kilometre they picked up the Worthing Striders club flag and carried it the full 8km around the course. They stopped for photos, were cheered along the route, and as they hit the home straight the rest of the club poured onto the course to cross the line together.
Steve described it better than I could:
“I could feel a sense of envy as we fell in behind the runners and our flag, singing our chant and asserting our identity, not just celebrating our achievements. It really was quite emotional. An inspired action that others will surely copy in future. What an ending.” — Steve
What an ending indeed, and a weekend I won’t forget anytime soon.
