The Challenge:

At 12pm on Friday 24th July, the whistle goes… and it doesn’t stop until after 12pm on Saturday.

I’ll be out there as one of the match officials, doing my bit to keep things in check as the hours rack up. And even better, my two sons, Jack and James, will be right in the thick of it as Games Makers — grafting behind the scenes, keeping things ticking, and no doubt loving every minute of it.

Two games of 7s rugby will run side by side:

– One men’s match

– One women’s match

The target? Go beyond the current Guinness World Record of 24 hours and 30 minutes, set back in 2017.

Each match will have squads of up to 12 players, with rolling subs to keep it alive the whole way through. Proper 7s laws, properly reffed, no shortcuts — just a serious test of legs, lungs and a bit of stubbornness.

And it’s not just the players putting a shift in. There’ll be team managers juggling bodies, physios keeping people moving, match officials (including me) trying to stay sharp deep into the night, and a cracking group of volunteers and Games Makers — including Jack and James — making sure it all actually happens.

This isn’t just a game. It’s a full team effort. One big push to see if we can go longer, dig deeper, and come out the other side with (another) a world record.