xx IN LOVING MEMORY OF CPL DANNY WINTER AND DAMIAN DAVIES
& EVERY OTHER TRUE BRITISH HERO xx
On Sunday 11th October 2009, a courageous, passionate team of Royal Marine Wives, Fiancees, Girlfriends and Family will once again be getting cold, wet, muddy and exhausted as we take on the GRUELLING 7 MILE CHALLENGE in Memory of CPL Danny Winter & every other British Hero who has given their life or been injured in conflict.
Last year we raised £8300 for Help for Heroes and Devon Air Ambulance and this year we want to be BIGGER & better!!!!!!!!
About the Commando Challenge:
The Royal Marine Commando Challenge is the civilian fundraising version of the Royal Marines Endurance Course - one of the four punishing Commando tests each recruit must endure to complete their training. It has been recognised internationally as part of one of the toughest military training regimes in the world, and was recently featured on Gordon Ramsay's 'F Word'.
There are two different Commando Challenges held on consecutive days - the 3 miler fun challenge, and then the 7 miler endurance challenge held on the second day. We will be taking part in the 7 miler. To start we will have a two mile run (mostly uphill) to the course, then we will have to endure 3 miles of FULLY submerged tunnels (which by 15:00 on Sunday will be unspeakably foul), pitch black winding tunnels over ground which will literally rip your knees to shreds, bogs which will happily steal your trainers if you haven't done them up so tight you lose the circulation to your feet, near vertical rocky gorges where it is more than easy to lose your footing, mud pits up to your shoulders, so called 'smartie tubes' which are essentially half submerged tunnels you can barely crawl through, and a pleasant little stream that the on-course Marines will ensure you crawl through. Not to mention the black bog that if you slip over will completely steal your identity, the FREEZING cold chest deep pool of water you must wade through, and the fact that the entire course is located on Woodbury Common which is 99.9% hills and moor-like terrain. We can tell you from experience, you can forget about Glastonbury , this is the most horrendous mud you will ever see. Oh yes, and I forgot to say.....after we have completed all of that, we then have another 2 mile run back to the finish, in our cold, water-logged clothes!!
The 'RMCC' has been running since November 1990 raising money for mainly local charities in Devon, and has evolved massively from the first ever event which consisted of 80 participants and raised £3,000, to its latest event which consisted of around 4,000 participants and raised in the region of £180,000. You can find out more about the Commando Challenge by visiting their official website: www.commandochallenge.co.uk
All money raised will do to Devon Air Ambulance and The Royal British Legion, please give generously!!
Meet the Team
You will probably be most familiar with the term WAGs from the celebrity culture of footballers and their other halves. But there are many types of WAGs, and we are Royal Marine WAGs, who want to Help Our Heroes.
Our Team this year also includes Mums/Neighbours and Sisters! Our popularity is growing!!
Adele Hegarty - another Fab Wag who clearly loves getting dirty as this is Adele's 2nd challenge!! Adele made a fantastic contribution to Help for Heroes last year by going out and promoting the Challenge by fundraising around Wales where she lives with her Royal Marine. She is a late entry this year because of family commitment and has four weeks to train so is planning on working her butt off to be ready on the day, as she doesnt want to let her team or gorgeous boyfriend down. Keiron last year ran the whole way beside Adele taking pics and giving encouragment not sure if he can make it this year as he starts a course the nex day :( fingers crossed as she would like him there.
Lottie Nicholls- A Commando Challenge virgin who is doing this after having her arm brutally twisted by the lovely mrs Winter! Her Royal Marine will have recently returned from serving in Iraq and will enjoy watching his missus make a fool of herself in all that mud!! Training has taken a backseat due to an unexpected operation on her foot but she is determined that nothing will stop her completing this!
Nerys Anslow-Is a 24 year old professional glamour model, She was born in South Africa but has travelled all over the globe until settling down with her man of a year who is based at 40 Commando She has already completed lots of charity work.
Mychelle Maddock- Mychelle classes herself as "old" although she is just 28! She sells professional hair products as a living and also is a qualified nail technician so after all that scrambling and crawling we shall have someone on board to repair our poor nails!!! This will be her second challenge as she completed last years too.Her Royal Marine is Luke who has been in for 7 years and has completed tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, He is due back out there next year for another 7 months. She is very much looking forward to getting dirty!
Laura Winter-Laura is a veteran at the CC, as this will be her third consecutive year!! She has done a fantastic job at organising the team and getting everything up and running. She is also very good at persuading nervous girlies that "they really will be ok and that it isnt as bad as it looks!" She gives us all hope that yes, we can survive this muddy ordeal! She is married to "Scotty" and together they have their very own gorgeous baby bootneck,Both of her boys will be cheering her on and waiting for a very muddy hug at the finish!
Sarah Cooper- Originally from Canada where she met her Royal at high school! They have been married for 6 years and together 11. Rob has been a Marine for 5 years based at 42, 40 and CTC. They are settled in Taunton where Sarah is a primary school teacher. She completed the 10K Commando Tactical Challenge but this will be her first time in the mud! Sarah is very excited and is especially looking forward to the "sheep dip"!!!!!
Catherine Sibley - Proud Wifey to her Royal Marines Commando Husband Matt who has been in just over 10 years. This is also Catherine's 1st attempt at the Commando Challenge and she is determined to cross that finish line and prove she doesn't mind getting dirty...and dirty she will get! Phys Machine she is not, so she is relying on her husbands training tips...this shouldn't be hard considering he used to be part of a training team at CTC and he most definately likes a challenge! Please wish her and the other girls lots of luck and dig deep for this worth while cause. Your support is very much appreciated.
Guinevere Thomson- Met her Booty Allan in high school and will have been together for 11 years in September!!! They were married 2 years ago and have a GORGEOUS little girly called Faye!
Stacey Smart- A young'un at 20 years old. She is a fun loving uni girl whos lad, Adam is at 45 commando and has recently completed a tour of Afghan. This will be her second Commando Challenge.
Melanie Louise Slinger-Melanie is 33 years old and doing the CC for the second time. She’s a proud mum of two gorgeous girls, who love their Royal Marine Daddy to bits. Like last year no training will be done, so she will be crawling round the course again, but it’s having fun and taking part that counts.
Emily Claire Tomkinson- Will be joining the team for her first challenge with her Marine, George there to cheer her on!
Kat Allen- Lives with her "duty essence" marine, Jay and their Doggy Doodles!
Kayleigh Walker-Kayleigh lives in Taunton with her husband Lee where she works as a Funeral Arranger! She has completed the Tactical Commando Challenge already in April this year - but this is her first time in the Sheep dip!! Kayleigh is the shortest of the team, so we hope that we do not lose her in Peters pool!!!....
Jenni Smart- Married to her Royal Lee and wonderful Mummy to her two children
Vicky Dent- Vicky aka 'Marshalls Minx' will be completing her 3rd challenge so is now classed as officially crazy. She is a 25 year old primary school teacher, living up in sheffield at the moment.
Although no longer a real wag she remains close to her ex, and is doing this for all the men and women out there fighting, and for those that we have lost and their families.
Its also a great opportunity to see the girls and spend some time with them, great motivation to get fit too. She has been in 'training' all summer, and recently ran the 'Billy the Kid Dash' in memory of RM David Marsh who was KIA last year.
Vicky is looking forward to the fundraising bar crawl again this year, and of course getting very muddy and wet, and raising lots of money for a great cause!!
Bring it on!!
Heather Cusden- Laura Winter's neighbour and another lovely lady "bullied", whilst drunk, to do the Commando Challenge! It will be Heathers "dirty 30" Birthday on the day and what better way to celebrate it then getting literally dirty with all that MUD!!
She lives with boyfriend Rob, their little girl Phoebe and dog Chopper. She works at the RD & E as a Cardiac Physiologist and claims to "really need to start training!" She is another who is quite wary of those tunnels!
Joanna Urso and Tracey Stevenson- Melanie has been hard at work recruiting these two lovely ladies to join our team. Joanna is Melanies cousin and Tracey is her best friend!! They have heard all the stories from last year about how much fun the challenge is and wanted to join to help support us all and raise some dosh for the charities!!!
Danielle Smith-
Elle Neal -It's the 2nd time doing the Challenge and she loved every minute last year! There is nothing better than getting muddy, wet and having loads of fun with the girls whilst making money for great causes!! Elle have been training little bit here and there but general fitness is kept by playing Netball for 2 teams, one is for the local Police team 'The Sirens' and the other is for 'CTC Lymstone Ladies' She adds, its the BEST way to get fit and have a good laugh!! Her other half, James, is based at Lymstone about to do his Juniors and she loves him to bits!! (awww!) Bring on the mud and good times!!
Laura Louise Molen -Probably the oldest Challenge veteran of the bunch, completing it this year for the 4th time!! Yes...she's lost a few screws!! A retired Royal Marine WAG, now on the dark side of life with her Pongo other half...Commando trained she would like to add! Fun loving and always up for a challenge. Looking forward to chucking herself about the course with the wonderful wags alongside her!! Bring it girlies!!
Danielle Whittaker - Is from St Helens and has never done anything like this before!!! (What has she got herself into!!) Her lovely man is in the Marines and so she knows how much people in the forces need sponsors and support like this. She is mega proud to be able to help out and get involved!! She has managed to do some recruiting of her own and has successfully bullied two of her mates (gotta be bestest mates after this!!!) into running the challenge with her!! DANIELLE SMITH AND JEN DUFFY. Neither have partners in the forces but are willing to go through this in support of the armed forces!! Way to go girlies!!!! Glad to have you on board.
Charlotte Allcorn-Turned fab 30 this year. She has 3 girls and been married to her marine, James, for 5 years. Another first timer doing the commando challenge. She shouts, BRING ON THE MUD!!!!
Jade Allcorn-
Lynne Davies - Sister in law to Damian Davies who lost his life on 12th December 2008, a true hero who will never be forgotten.
Of course where would a team be without loyal supporters and photographers?!?!?! As well as some of us having our men there some of the other WAGs have agreed to come along in support. Equipped with camaras, blister pads and vodka we have Anna Kinsey Westwood and Amy Louise Smith....Watch out at the end though girlies we may not let you get away without being muddy!!
Thankyou so much for looking at our page and for all your support
Love From
Team Essence xx
