Boldness endures anything

I’ve never posted a piece on LinkedIn before, but as I reflect on year four of the Spitfire Scramble, it seems an apt moment to break my duck. 

What began in 2014 with a shade over 200 people in a half-empty field has grown to the spectacle we put on last weekend.

Over 700 runners took part in a madcap 24-hour solo or relay race that has no equal in the Greater London area. The feedback from social media has been incredible.

Both literally and figuratively, the race has come a long way from the idea that mushroomed inside my brain during a run through Hornchurch Country Park in the summer of 2012.

It took another year to pluck up the courage to leave my job, support myself and my family and get this thing off the ground and it was then nearly derailed by a gust of wind that capsized our marquee and the early arrival of my second daughter nine hours into the inaugural race.

Somehow the people around me kept it rolling and we reached the end of year one with great feedback and a base to grow from.

Numbers more than doubled in year two, we added the stunning spectacle of a Spitfire flypast and in year three we pushed on again to over 600 runners.

2017 saw us leave our first home within the park and head for far larger fields, where we can now aspire to doubling numbers once more and creating the event I have always wanted this to become.

We learn each year from listening to our runners and understanding more about the events business as we go.

Mistakes are made in every startup and I have come to believe they form the foundations for future success as long as they are absorbed and learned from.

Something seems different in the afterglow of 2017’s race. Facebook numbers are rising faster than ever before and five-star reviews are coming in at an unprecedented rate. The clamour to know when entries open for 2018 is at an all-time high.

It feels like we could be seeing a little watershed moment for this event, and that is an exciting moment to be in.

One of the Spitfire squadrons previously based at RAF Hornchurch, where we stage the Spitfire Scramble, was 54 Squadron. They used to go by the motto “Boldness endures anything”.

I think that sums up nicely the attitude that was needed to make this event happen, just as it does the runners who take it on.