RACENEWFOREST BIG 7 August 2011
I used to do a lot of running........and cycling.........quite a bit less swimming (obviously) but these days my jaunts into The Forest seem to be getting louder and louder as I huff and puff my way along. More and more time to think, though, (as I get ever slower!!) and it was at one of those moments that it dawned on me just how much of a struggle it must be for a small and not particularly "trendy" charity to attract donations in the face of bigger, higher proflile competition....and particularly in the current economic climate.
RaceNewForest had already become involved with The Trussell Trust to a limited extent via one or two of our races but I began to wonder whether there might be something I could do as an individual to help out a bit.
Until three years ago I had taken part in Triathlons on a regular basis and put the training in to do so. As our events have grown, however, I have struggled to find either the time or the motivation to race and/or train......too much of a "busman's holiday", I guess!!! I wondered if the specific challenge of fundraising could fire me up enough to drag myself back into some kind of "shape" to take part in "something": but what kind of "something"? It would ned to be a significant challenge as I had already completed an Ironman triathlon when fit so I began chatting through a few ideas with Tim Harris (a man renowned forendurance challenges of stupid proportions!!). I'd always expressed a desire to have a crack at one of our own events but as Race Organiser that would never be possible. So what if we could come up with a challenge involving the RaceNewForest series somehow? Jokingly I suggested that we should do all seven of them consecutively, finishing with The ForestMan (which is a really tough Iron Distance challenge in it's own right!!!). Unfortunately this off the wall suggestion captured Tim's imagination and he didn't let me forget it.
So here we are, a 50 yr old who hasn't trained in three years (and who'd really prefer to be in the pub) and a keen youngster (but one whose triathlon experience is limited to one season comprising two short races) and we're going to have a stab at taking on seven of the toughest triathlons around in seven days next August.
The events are as follows:- (although the order may change as we begin to develop a better understanding of the unique demands of multi stage racing!!)
Monday (Aug 8th) -The Boskman
Swim 2.6km, Bike 126km, Run 21.1km
Tuesday (Aug 9th)- New Forest Middle Distance
Swim 1.9km, Bike 90km, Run 21.1km
Wednesday (Aug 10th) -The Swashbuckler
Swim 1.9km, Bike 81km, Run 22.6km
Thursday (Aug 11th) - OLT
Swim 1.3km, Bike 45km, Run16km
Friday (Aug 12th) -The New Forest Standard Tri
Swim 1.1km, Bike 36km, Run10km
Saturday (Aug 13th) - Sprint Triathlon
Swim 0.75km, Bike 25km, Run 6km
Sunday (Aug 14th) -The Forestman
Swim 3.8km, Bike 180km, Run 42.2km
All that gives a 7day total of:
Swim 13.35km (8.25miles)
Bike 583km (362miles)
Run 139km (86.4miles)
Anyone who's done any of these races will appreciate the scale of our undertaking. We'll be unveiling a range of opportunities for everyone to get involved in helping us to raise as much money as we can at each of the individual RNF events next year: prize draws; opportunities to try and predict our times; the option to wager your time against mine ..........if we're going to put ourselves through that much pain it had better be worthwhile!!! In the mean time there's this page:- just click and hand over the cash!!
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