Done!

After literally thousands of miles of cycling, hundreds of miles of running and the absolute bare minimum of swimming, the runglassonrun challenge is finally complete. Yesterday was the Helly Hansen adventure race, which turned out to be a suitably tough ending to what has been a very demanding few months of training and competing. And it was nice to bring things to a close with a very respectable result. Team Viceroys came 33rd out of 315 teams, and if you exclude the 2 man teams we were in the top 10% of finishers. Not bad for a scratch team who had never even trained together. After about 4 weeks of relentless rain, the course was muddy and wet beyond belief, and the boggy ground sucked the energy out of you. The format turned out to be a 5k run, followed by about 12k mountain biking, an interlude of comic relief trying to wrestle a kayak round the lake, then back on the bike for another very tough 12k, finishing with a very painful final 5k run. It all took just over 3 hours, and we were all fully knackered by the end. Thanks to Pete and Spencer for the moral support!

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Why am I doing this


Macmillan Cancer Support improves the lives of people affected by cancer. We provide practical, medical, emotional and financial support and push for better cancer care. Cancer affects us all. We can all help. We are Macmillan.

Last year my mother died of cancer. Our whole family was shocked and devastated by the suddenness and unexpectedness of her death. Everyone who knew her remembers a funny, generous, loving person in perfect health and the fitness that came from a life spent with dogs and horses. Sadly she died too quickly to benefit from the support of a Macmillan nurse – but as mum had been a nurse for her whole working life, raising money for this great cause seemed to be a very appropriate way to remember her.

Countdown: -273 days

Race list

  1. L’Etape du Tour

    20th July 2009

  2. The Vitruvian Half IronMan

    5th September 2009

  3. New York City Marathon

    1st November 2009

  4. Hellrunner

    15th November 2009

  5. Helly Hansen Adventure Race

    6th Dec 2009

Training blog

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Latest on Wed, 05:05 pm

Lineda Sahi: Wish you all the best especially for the 'Le Mont Ventoux', the toughest I think. And as the French saying goes : "N’est pas fou [...]

Matt Bee: I'll still beat you at Vitruvian, I hope!!

Amy (Niece): Wish you luck for all the racing.

Jon Kent: Good luck Rich - just keep pedalling - you'll be fine

Sasha Glasson: i wouldn't do 'hellrunner'

Lizzie Baker: GO RICHARD! GOOD LUCK!

Alex C: Rather you than me!

Scott Emond: All the best Richard. May the wind be at your back and your mom guiding you from above.

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Helly Hansen Adventure Race

And to round things off, there's an off road adventure race, which includes cross-country running, kayaking, mountain biking, assault courses and any other abuse the organisers choose to throw at us over the course of three or four hours. It's a team event and to compound the misery I'll be bullied round the course by an ex Royal Marine. I'm not expecting a relaxing day.

http://www.trailplus.com/helly_hansen.cfm

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L’Etape du Tour

This is the daddy of them all. Racing a stage of the Tour de France is always a challenge, but this year it’s on Mont Ventoux, ‘the Giant of Provence’. This is the hardest stage there is, bar none. It’s legendary among cyclists for being the climb where British rider Tom Simpson died of exhaustion in 1967. The entire stage is 172km, with 3000 vertical metres gained over the course of four category 1 climbs, and the 22kms ‘hors categorie’ finish up Mont Ventoux. In the words of Lance Armstrong: “It’s a tough mountain, a really stiff challenge, probably the most difficult climb in France.”

http://www.letapedutour.com

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The Vitruvian

A half Ironman triathlon comprises a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride and a half marathon to finish. The Vitruvian is one of the most challenging courses on the circuit. The bike route has 1000 metres of climbing in the hills of Rutland, including two ascents of the notorious ‘Rutland Ripple’. Perhaps the best description of this race comes from the organisers: “This is a full on tough quad crunching, lung buster of a race that will push even the toughest of the longer distance triathletes to the limit.”

http://www.pacesetterevents.com/vitruvian-triathlon.php

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The NYC Marathon

26.2 miles of running on an undulating route through the city’s 5 boroughs, ending in Central Park. Perhaps the world’s most famous and best supported road race, it should be a great experience. It will be my 3rd marathon – but for each of the others I had 6 months of running training, for this one, I will have 6 weeks. That is a massive challenge.

http://www.nycmarathon.org/

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Hellrunner

My penultimate event, and one which defies description. To really make it a mental challenge, you never know how long the race is going to be, even when you’re standing on the start line. All you know is that you are going to be up to your waist in mud and water, freezing cold and utterly exhausted for as many hours as it takes. Words of encouragement come on the event’s website from a previous competitor: “It was incredibly hard, and just when you think you've got to the end the crowd-lined 'bog of doom' is there to totally destroy your morale. By that point though you're so tired, upset and distressed you really don’t care.” Anyone want to join me?

http://www.hellrunner.co.uk/index.htm

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