On the Trail of the Lonesome Runner

In New Zealand, Britain's leading ultra endurance runner is closing in on a dream to complete the Te Araroa Trail, a 3,000km pathway which runs the length of New Zealand. He started the solo challenge on December 12. This is our conversation before he left.

 

Running from the top of North Island to the bottom of South Island along New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail, a distance of 1,898 miles (3054 kms) in 50 days, is equivalent to running off-road between Rome and Moscow.

Jez Bragg is ready to face the ultimate end-to-end challenge, averaging 40-50 miles a day through challenging and remote terrain, dealing with climates ranging from sub-tropical to sub-arctic.

At times he will have to be self-sufficient when faced with long stretches across barren wasteland where his support crew will be unable to reach him.

The 31-year-old chartered building surveyor will spend Christmas and New Year pounding through the forests, along the beaches, and across a volcanic and mountainous landscape of a foreign land in pursuit of a new challenge, while his new wife Gemma waits for their honeymoon.

Bragg is Britain’s top ultra endurance runner, and one of the best in the world, admitting the sport is in his blood, a passion he developed via rugby and marathons.

 

He won his first endurance race in 2006 and has won races every year since, culminating with winning the challenging North Face Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc, one of the toughest in the world which he has contested 10 times.

Everyone will be able to follow him every step of the way through the internet, social media, blogs and GPS tracking so at any point of the day or night they will see exactly where he is.

Bragg, with a two-man support crew, will be one of the first people in the world to welcome in 2013. “I love roast dinners but that won’t be on my menu,” he joked. “We’ll have to celebrate Christmas and the New Year in some way though.”

He will be, as he pointed out, “living like a tortoise” but such has been his preparations, the North Face supported athlete has insisted on customised clothing designed to his exact specifications. “You have to feel comfortable, the material has to be right, it has to be light. Nothing has been left to chance.”

Bragg, 31, has spent the past year preparing for what he describes as this “epic adventure”, a solo, fastest time attempt to run the trail doubling his training runs from 140 miles to 300 a week.

 

In addition to running, when he expects to go through at least a dozen pair of trainers, Bragg will also have to negotiate various water crossings which form part of the official route, a down-stream paddle on the Whanganui River and the dangerous Cook Strait, which separates the North and South Islands.

Months spent on the water at Poole with his father-in-law Mark Taylor, an experienced canoeist who taught him how to kayak, is helping prepare him for the dangers he could face. A retired GP, his medical expertise is an essential part of “Team Bragg” on this expedition.

With swimming and cycling both making up part of his training programme, Bragg has not discounted an Ironman in the future. “Maybe I’ll string all three disciplines together,” he mused.

“This is what I was born to do,” enthused Bragg, who starts the journey on December 12, and believes he has the mental and physical DNA to succeed.

“I am stubbon, determined and decisive. Am, I selfish?,” he asked. “I would not say so, but there is an element of that in what I am doing because I am worrying my wife, family and friends.Outside of running, people will tell you I am the least selfish person there is, but there has to be an element of that in you to be doing this.

“You have to have that absolute focus, be prepared to sacrifice that family occasion so you don’t get overly tired, make sure you train hard enough, but I think many sports people can relate to that. It’s a bit ruthless. Friends and family understand as long as you are not going to be like that the rest of your life.

“Gemma is amazing, so supportive. This was all planned before I proposed and her support has been wonderful. She runs herself and is often on my case, dragging me out of bed at 5.30 in the morning to go training.”

Bragg’s best friend Jamie Ashwell, who gave up trying to compete with him when he decided to start long distance running rather than share a pint in a pub of an evening, is the other half of his support crew providing logistical back up, and accommodation en route where possible.

“We’ve spent the last year planning this and I am incredibly proud of what he is doing. Not many people have the mental toughness to do something like this, but Jez is pretty special.

“We are there to support him all the time, but there will be areas on the route where we cannot reach him and he’ll have to have a couple of days being self-sufficient, carrying everything so he can set up camp, eat and sleep,” Ashwell added.

The key to completing the trail in 50 days will be to keep the momentum going. “Rest days are often counter-productive,” Bragg insists. “This will push me beyond anything I have ever done before, but as for how much I do every day, I will decide on the day, depends how my body feels, what conditions are like.”

He fell into endurance running purely by accident after a childhood spent bike riding, climbing trees, playing rugby and being “relentless” at everything he did.

“My parents were not very sporty so did not give me this love of sport. It’s something I found myself. I ran 800m and 1500m at school only because I was no good at cricket. I had the pace from my rugby and then trained hard for the London Marathon [2001] purely as a one-off.

“Then I found I missed the training and thought maybe I could run a bit longer, go off road, and see how far I could get. I just fell into the sport entering crazy long races. I won the first race I did and most of them since,” he pointed out.

Bragg loves nothing more than pouring over maps, plotting routes over unchartered territory, finding training in his backyard in Dorset useful, but spends most of his time in the Scottish Highlands, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District and Snowdonia.

“I draw strength and inspiration from the environment I am running in but can find a training run from home very hard. There is nothing to focus on unlike running through the sounds and scents of a forest.  If I am navigating through a new landscape I am stimulated, my mind is absorbing it all. I don’t listen to music, I fit myself into the environment.

“If I am feeling a bit sorry for myself at any point, I look around at the surroundings and draw strength  from that and how lucky I am to be able to do this.”

His dad, who died six years ago, remains an inspiration to him. “My running would inspire him and it’s nice to continue to make him proud,” admitted Bragg, who draws his own inspiration and drive from stories of epic bravery and people who go through extreme experiences and come out the other side.

“You can be inspired by people far outside your sport but the whole idea of challenging your perception of boundaries, and how far we can push them.

“If I can inspire people to have a go at something they have never done before, then this expedition will have been a success in one area. I know this is the biggest test I will perhaps ever have, my body will take some months to recover, but I don’t want to have any regrets. I have to do this,” he insisted.