How to march
We all walk at different speeds and have different goals for the march. But if you’d like a rule of thumb to lean on, this is the pace soldiers are trained in – steady enough to last all the way.
A pace that lasts all the way
The basic rule is 50 minutes of marching followed by 10 minutes of rest. After three such stretches, take a longer break of one hour – ideally at a checkpoint.
- 50 minutes marching – 10 minutes rest
- 50 minutes marching – 10 minutes rest
- 50 minutes marching – 60 minutes rest
At around 6 km/h – one kilometre every ten minutes – 40 km takes 9 hours and 40 minutes. You start at 07.00 and the finish closes at 18.00, so there’s plenty of time. Aim for the highest pace the whole group can keep comfortably, neither too fast nor too slow – plan as if you were going to walk even further.
What the rest is for
Ten minutes sounds short, but it’s enough for the essentials: drink, change your socks, air out your boots and rest your feet. If you have new gear, do a short ten-minute test march first and check that nothing rubs. If something rubs for anyone in the group, take five minutes and sort it out before you carry on.
Going faster?
The march is for everyone, including those of you using it as training who want to jog or walk fast. Everything is planned around a normal marching pace, so let the marshals know if you intend to move faster, and check in as you pass the checkpoints. Bear in mind that you may then miss out on some of what the checkpoints offer.