A climber who nearly died after falling from cliffs at Winspit Quarry, Worth Matravers, has run 100 km to raise funds for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance in thanks for saving his life.
Sam Snowdon raised nearly £1,600 running through the night in an ultramarathon along the Ridgeway, Britain’s oldest footpath, on Saturday 11th July 2026, completing the course in just over 15 hours and 30 minutes.
Sam was rescued from Winspit Quarry, Worth Matravers in March 2022 by the air ambulance crew
Broken ribs and a collapsed lung
It is the second time he has taken on an endurance run to raise funds for the air ambulance, having previously covered 50 kilometres running between 15 peaks in the Welsh mountains in under 12 hours.
But Sam says that the gruelling challenges do not even come close to repaying his debt of gratitude to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance for keeping him alive after a fall of six metres in March 2022.
Sam suffered six broken ribs and a collapsed lung as he landed on rocks at the bottom of the cliff face, was unable to move and could feel his breathing deteriorating by the minute.
A friend ran half a mile to get a phone signal to call for help, but was told that the ambulance service was overwhelmed and would take several hours to reach the scene of the accident.
How Swanage.News reported the incident in March 2022
“A sense of hope I can’t fully describe”
Sam Snowdon said:
“Quite frankly I didn’t have those hours left in me, but thankfully a second call to the air ambulance changed everything.
“The situation was escalated, and soon after, I heard the distant sound of a helicopter. That sound, quickly growing louder by the second, brought me a sense of hope I can’t fully describe. Help was coming.
“The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and Swanage and St Albans Coastguard responded rapidly, and their actions saved my life.
“They were able to administer the appropriate care and get me into a much more comfortable state, ahead of getting me to hospital before my condition worsened.
“Had they not been able to respond so quickly, who knows where I would be today so I am eternally grateful for their rapid response.”
Sam Snowdon, centre, with friends who ran 50 km in the Welsh Mountains with him, also to raise funds for DSAA
“Unable to move, struggling to breathe”
Sam added:
“It was a beautiful spring day in March, and I had been out climbing with friends, enjoying the sunshine and sea air. This all changed suddenly when I took a six metre fall, flipping upside down and crashing into the cliff below.
“I suffered multiple broken ribs and a collapsed lung and almost immediately I could feel my condition began to deteriorate.
“To make matters worse, we had no phone signal. A friend had to run a significant distance just to call for help, leaving me lying there unable to move, struggling to breathe, and in a lot of pain.
“After a long recovery, I wanted to do something to give back, so I ran the 50 km Welsh 3000s to raise £735 and this year I decided to take things further and run 100 kilometres to raise funds for this vital service and their wonderful work.”
Sam during one of several training runs in June 2026 for the Ridgeway ultramarathon
Sam and his support team before he set off on his 100 km run
Temperatures rose to 34 degrees
Sam set off at midnight on Saturday 11th July 2026 on the ultramarathon run from Lewknor in Oxfordshire in an attempt to avoid the worst of the day’s heat, although the night time temperature never dropped lower than 17 degrees Centigrade.
Once the sun came up that morning, temperatures rose to 34 degrees meaning that hydration breaks at six pitstops along the way were vital.
Sam completed his 62 mile run along the Ridgeway at 3:30 pm that afternoon, finishing at the 5,000 year old Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire in 278th place in a field of nearly 2,500 runners.
He says he feels he is finally back to full fitness after his near fatal fall at Winspit Quarry four years ago, and owes it all to the heroes who volunteer for the air ambulance and coastguard services.
Winspit Quarry was closed to the public in 2023 after new cracks were found to have appeared in the rocks
Challenging rock faces
Located near Worth Matravers on the Purbeck coastline, Winspit Quarry has been a popular place for outdoor pursuits, with several rock faces to challenge even an experienced climber.
Until around 1940 Winspit was used as a stone quarry, providing stone for buildings in London, and during World War Two it was used as a site for naval and air defences.
In March 2022, it was announced that the National Trust had purchased the 350 acre Weston Farm, including Winspit and its bat caves, adding to its other landholdings in the village.
Scenes for the Disney Star Wars drama Andor had been filmed there in May 2021, but before a second series was due to see a return of the film crew, a geologist commissioned by Disney noticed there had been significant movement of the rock and new cracks in the roof of the caves.
Filming was called off and the National Trust closed off the quarry to all walkers and climbers from Thursday 20th April 2023.
The second DSAA helicopter has been in service for two months and has already made a few emergency visits to Swanage
Demand for service has tripled
Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance provides life saving, pre hospital critical care, to patients in need, and responded to around 3,000 incidents in 2025 with demand for the service having tripled over the last decade.
A second air ambulance has just been bought and funded by a public appeal for use when the original helicopter, Peggy, is in maintenance or already responding to an incident.
The service is particularly significant for rural communities such as Purbeck, where long distances, narrow country roads and isolated coastal locations can make rapid access to specialist emergency care more difficult.
But the charity’s running cost is around £27,000 a day, and with no direct government or National Lottery funding, it relies entirely on public donations for its life saving work.
Further information
- Find out about the work of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance on its website
