St Swithun’s School embraces talk by Javed Bhatti – ultra-runner, development consultant and parent

28 Nov 2016

A large audience of pupils, parents, friends and former pupils gathered in St Swithun’s School, Winchester performing arts centre to listen to ultra-running enthusiast, development consultant and St Swithun’s parent Mr Javed Bhatti in mid-November.

Mr Bhatti is the first person to have achieved running the 268 mile Montane Spine Race twice, completing a distance of over 500 miles, along the entire length of the Pennine Way and back again in one go in mid-winter. This challenge alone raised over £7,000 split between the Mountain Rescue Service and Allegra’s Ambition charity, in memory of former St Swithun’s pupil Allegra Whittome.

Modestly describing his running background and tools for improvement, Mr Bhatti’s talk, entitled Resilience, offered messages applicable to any sporting or indeed life situation.

The audience were fascinated to learn about the psychological tools, nutritional and physical preparation required to complete such feats of endurance. Mr Bhatti described how he treats each of his challenges as a game or ‘a dance with angels’ rather than focussing on the difficulties.

For more information about the Montane Spine Race –  http://thespinerace.com/

For more information about Allegra’s Ambition – http://www.allegrasambition.org.uk/

 

Photo: Headmistress Jane Gandee, Mr Javed Bhatti, St Swithun’s sixth formers and science teacher Mr Michael Tanner