Six Months - Six Challenges

 

So here is what you know…

 

I am a British Army Officer in the Royal Regiment of Artillery deployed on an 8 month Tour of Duty. 

 

Whilst my main effort and commitment remains solely on the job at hand, which is paralleled with the soldiers output on Operations there will inevitably be scope to make productive use of any down time the troops and I are granted during our deployment.

 

Here is what you may not know…

 

I hope to capitalise on any available free time and use it productively to raise money for our less fortunate brethren returning home in life altering circumstances, and also hopefully contribute to a positive morale and atmosphere around camp as a result of the unique challenges I intend to set myself.

 

Each month of my deployment will be dedicated to a new challenge designed to test me physically, mentally and all with absolute humility in a variety of unique tasks. I will train and study wherever is feasibly possible to not deplete both my enthusiasm and input into my actual job at hand. 

 

The challenges have been set and we are looking for backing from you, friends, family and figures of influence in order to raise as much money as possible for a great cause.  Any tips, advice or mockery will be warmly received and you can send and upload messages on the Facebook page.

 

Six Months - Six Challenges:

 

Run with Mo - Quite simply I have set myself an audacious target to match Mo Farah's minute mile speed during his Olympic Gold medal winning 10k performance.  Broken down I will train over the month of November with the ambition to be able to run a mile in 4 minutes 35 seconds.  My current best is 5 mins 50 secs so I will need to train to run 1 min 10 secs quicker than this.  Tough over extremely short distance.

 

Becoming Romeo - The challenge quite simply is to learn the lines of Romeo from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet over the course of a month, and be capable of enacting these in a performance with and before my colleagues at the end of December - our Christmas play.

 

Beating Bale - Many of you will have watched the biggest transfer in football history with close scrutiny this summer, but having paid particular attention to his parade in front of the fans at the Bernabeu I noted Gareth Bale seemed to struggle to put more than 10 kick ups together.  Now I can appreciate that feeling coming from a predominantly rugby background, so during the course of January I will be enlisting the support of more talented soldiers in an attempt to average 50 kicks up during 3 attempts.  If you know a pro who would be willing to offer their advice please get them to upload a video on www.facebook.com/6months6challenges This would be great publicity for the charity.

 

The world's capital cities - As a former Geography student at Birmingham University you might think this would be a relatively straightforward challenge, but when recently questioned about the capital city of South Africa there were certain worries around the answering.  At the end of March I will be quizzed by a fellow colleague on 50 countries and will have to score 45 or more correctly to pass this challenge.

 

Olympic Row - The sub 7:33.35 2 km row. The current world record for a single scull 2 km row is set by New Zealand's Mahé Drysdale at 6:33.35 with the women's record being 30 seconds behind. Add another 30 seconds to that and hopefully I will be crossing the finish line. Any tips and hints from Olympic medal winning rowers would be greatly appreciated!

 

The Final Challenge - Well I'd quite like you guys to set it. With each donation it would be great if you could put forward a challenge idea (please bear any mind any potential limitations to equipment at my disposal). 

 

My charity of choice is Walking with the Wounded whose mission parallels my feeling of a need to prepare as best I can for the worst case scenario. They offer incredible support to wounded soldiers, and to learn more about their mission and objectives please visit their site - www.walkingwiththewounded.org.uk

 

I will keep a written blog (supported by video uploads where possible) of the training for each challenge and welcome good luck messages, videos or simply the down and dirty truth of my achievements or failings - it's all in good humour and for a great cause.  Performance related donations will also be greatly received.

 

So add us on Facebook, Twitter, and justgiving.com. Stay tuned in and follow our blog. 

 

Help us, help ourselves at www.justgiving.com/6months6challenges