I live very near to the Humber Bridge, probably the most iconic symbol of Hull there is. It also offers me an ideal location for early training and testing of costume configurations, and thanks to the Humber Bridge Board and the Bridge Master I have been given full clearance for using the bridge and the surrounding area for doing just that.

The stormtrooper costume was never of course designed for people to wear continually for hours, or to run in. Certainly not both at the same time. Because of this I have had to think very carefully about making modifications to the costume to make it possible for me to run so many miles this year.

One of the things I have been very keen to do with this challenge is to retain the outward appearance of the costume as close to the original design as possible. Tempting though it is to slash away at the leg and arm armour, shaving off several inches, removing the groin are and ditching the belt and even the visor part of the helmet, I feel that doing this would sacrifice the iconic design, and in my own mind I would no longer be a proper stormtrooper. I want the look to be as authentic as possible, which is one of the reasons why I have had the armour made by Andrew Ainsworth at Shepperton Studios. He’s the guy who originally designed and built the stormtrooper costumes for the Star Wars films back in ther 70’s, and my armour has been made using the original moulds. It just seems wrong to then make too many alterations.

I have had to cut away about an inch from the top of the back of the calf armour, and an inch from the bottom of the back of the thigh armour, in order to allow me to bend and flex the knee. I could probably do with shaving another inch or two off, but I am resiting that so far. I also had to add in an extra inch in diamater on the calf armour as they wouldn’t fit – I guess all that running has built up my calf muscles a bit!

But many of the changes I am making are internal ones that you can’t see, and these are to do with comfort, visibility, drinking and keeping cool.

Internal modifications to the stormtrooper costume

One of the problems I experienced in early test runs was the visor would mist up fairly quickly. The helmet really does completely encase your head, and there’s very little air coming in. As I run, and get warm and sweaty the humidity in the helmet builds up, and my breathing obviously only makes this worse. Very quickly the visor misted up, and I could see pretty much nothing at all.

I discovered that the best solution was actually to rub shaving foam over the inside of the lenses before a run, and then clean it off. This seemed to last longer than other solutions, but of course it doesn’t last for as long as I need it to.

Installing fans into stormtrooper helmets is popular, but for me that’s not good enough because a fan inside the helmet is only going to circulate the humid air. I know some people have positioned the fans in front of the small air vent in the mouth section of the helmet, but this doesn’t really pull in enough cool air for me to cope with a marathon. So what I currently have is a belt pack of four 12v squirrel cage fans, each connected to a hose which runs up the inside of the costume into the helmet. These blow a huge amount of fresh cool air up into the helmet, without the associated noise and buzzing you;d get from having them actually inside the helmet.

I’m also having to look into road testing a solution for drinking whilst running, without removing the helmet.

So what does all this have to do with the Humber Bridge?

Well, when I test my costume out I need to run on the road, because using the running machine at home doesn’t offer the same sort of experience at all. But if I go outside and start running up and down my street I will inevitably find myself colliding with pedestrians, having the cross roads, navigate corners and kerbs and avoid potholes. I will also need to return to base to make modifications too.

The Humber Bridge though offers me an ideal solution. Having discussed my needs with the Humber Bridge Board they have agreed that I can use the facilities there, so I can park up in the coach park area which is very quiet during the late afternoons, don the suit, then run round the coach park once or twice to get a feel for how the modifications or set-up works. I can then return to the car to make any necessary changes before heading up onto the bridge itself for a proper run.

The bridge is an ideal testing venue too, because it is dead straight, and flat, with no curves, no kerbs, no potholes and no other obstacles, so I can just keep going. Even if visibility is reduced because of misting I can still see clearly up there, and know that all I have to do is keep running straight. If I can see, the view is terrific too.

Yesterday I tried this out for the first time. I tried on the costume and ran round the car park, and all seemed okay. I headed up onto the bridge and within a few hundred yards realised that there was a problem – my helmet was being blown about so much that it was rotating round, and almost being blown up off my head! I retuned to base and added in some extra foam inside the helmet and tried again – perfect. At least two of the races I’m doing this year will be in windy conditions for part of the way, so this was helpful.

The run across the bridge and back one and a half times (3 miles) was not only pretty comfortable, but hugely enjoyable. The number of cars and lorries that hooted at me in support was amazing, and every cyclist, pedestrian and jogger I met waved, gave me a thumbs up, smiled, laughed or offered me support. I also met Tania Cream, who had previously offered to run with me, and will be joining me for my return to the bridge this Friday.

Today I’m going to be making a few more changes, and properly fixing up the temporary modifications I made yesterday, and then tomorrow I’ll be meeting the Humber Bridge’s PR team who are interviewing me and taking some publicity photos for them to use. I’ll then be heading up onto the bridge again for a run, hopefully there and back a couple of times.

If you happen to see me, please hoot or wave! If you’re not going to be there you can still show your support of course by donating to my charity, Kidscape, either by visiting my JustGiving page at http://www.justgiving.com/stormrunning or texting STOR50 £5 to 70070. You can change the amount you wish to donate by changing the 5 to any number you like – every pound helps, and every pound matters! Thank you.