We Tried To Run Across A London Bridge Before Big Ben Strikes 12
This is so weird.
There's literally no one else around.
I look so dumb.
Oh, no, I'm not seeing a
clearing. This,
this is ridiculous. Right,
come on Sarah, Stop bailing out.
All right, okay, now it's clear.
Okay.
Starting the race in 3, 2, 1.
This is the story of Florence Ilott, also known as the Westminster Bridge Sprinter.
Her story is so inspiring that we just had to share it with you.
Stay tuned until the end of this video because I am going to be taking on the challenge that Flori is
famous for.
Let's see how that goes.
But first, if you're new around here, please do hit subscribe and like this video to cheer me on.
In the early 1930s, a teenager called Florence Ilott worked in a catering
team at the Houses of Parliament.
She was a passionate runner and was particularly good at the 220 yard
dash, and an MP decided to set her up with a challenge which had been
tradition within the houses of Parliament.
That challenge was to run across Westminster Bridge within the 12 chimes of Big Ben
at noon.
So on the morning of April 14th, 1934, she donned her running gear, jogged
across the far side of Westminster Bridge to St Thomas's Hospital, her allocated start
point. At the chime of the first bell, her sprint began.
The bridge was full of traffic and pedestrians, and so it should have been an impossible task.
But she did it, and she became the first person ever to do so.
Now, unfortunately, as you can see, Big Ben is under construction,
and so the chimes have been stopped for the moment.
But luckily, I've got producers on hand in order to do the chimes for me so that I am going
to be doing the challenge as close to the original as possible.
So the dash starts all the way down on the other side of the bridge at St Thomas's Hospital
and ends here.
So let's do a little slow jog.
I'm gonna start my watch to see how long it's gonna take me.
I don't know whether to feel confident or not. Probably not. So the distance
over the bridge is 1160 ft, which is roughly
around 350 metres.
No one's exactly sure how long she took to cover the distance as reports of her
doing it by the 10th time, which would have been around 40 seconds, would have meant
running quite a bit faster than the then world record for 200 metres
and then carrying on for a full 350 metres.
But suffice to say it was fast.
And for the purposes of today, where the Running Channel team have set me the challenge of seeing how
I compare to Florence for the Westminster Bridge dash, I'm gonna be benchmarking myself
against that 40 second mark.
Route's okay, and we're at St Thomas's.
Okay, so as a leisurely jog
as a leisurely jog that took me two
minutes and five seconds.
So I need to halve it and minus 20 seconds.
Easy. Right,
let's do this.
I'm starting in line with the hospital.
This is so weird.
There's literally no one else around.
I look so dumb.
Uh, see, I think I've got a slight advantage here
because I'm not just waiting until it gets to 12 o'clock, which would be more scary.
But now I'm going,
oh, no, no.
There's some people, were going to let those people go.
I might just have to accept that this is going to be a...
All right, okay, now it's clear.
Okay.
Starting the race in
3, 2, 1.
How can I get across this bridge?
Do I look stupid?
Yes.
Come on, doing this
for the girls.
Get out my way, get out my way, get out my way, get out my way!
Sorry!
There could be
casualties, and it's not going to be me.
Come on.
Oh no.
Oh, I've lost precious time there.
Come on, right.
Goodbye.
Downhill to the finish.
Come on, come on, come on.
It's a good job you do that overlooking the water.
Oh, oh, yeah.
I'm not a sprinter.
I am not a sprinter.
Oh, no.
Oh.
So I just looked at my time.
That was flat out.
That was three minutes 31 seconds per kilometre pace,
which is not something I specialise in.
I'm north of four, probably north of five
minutes per kilometre.
So that took me one minute, 12 seconds.
That was brutal.
Florence, I take my hat off to you.
That is impressive.
Phwoar, props to you, Flori, that was so incredibly tough.
and even more impressive now that I've had to go myself. So she managed to run across the bridge in 40
seconds.
I did it in one minute and 12 seconds.
So under half.
Is that an achievement?
Let us know if you have a go at this challenge.
And are there any other challenges that you're running heroes are famous for
that you want us to take on?
Let us know in the comments down below.
And we will see you next time on The Running Channel.
