After two years of disappointment, Di Kemple was relieved as she crossed the finish line of the Beacons Way 105km Ultra trail race in July with a time of 21 hours and four minutes. Kemple first signed up to the gruelling race which traverses the Brecon Beacons National Park in 2022, but was forced to defer her entry until the following year after slipping on her final training run and tearing her meniscus. The 51-year-old family lawyer at Hughes Paddison in Cheltenham made it to the start line in 2023, but unfortunately didn’t finish the race, being timed out at the last checkpoint in treacherous conditions.
“After everything that has happened, I couldn’t quite believe that I had got there this year, it was a relief,” said Kemple. “It had been such a long time coming. “This time I was actually full of negativity ahead of doing it, I'll be honest.
It’s been like a monkey on my back because of the last two years. “The training has been particularly difficult this year because of the awful weather, and I didn’t have that fire in my belly that I felt I should have had, and had previously. “But I pushed through that and got to the start line, because had I not turned up to the start line I would have felt a failure.
" Still bugged by previous disappointments, when Kemple arrived at the start line, her mind switched, and nothing was stopping her from reaching her goal, the finish line. “Despite my various concerns, when I got to the start line, the weather was .