Challenge 12 complete = Average Joe Challenge complete

On December 14 2013 at around 3:30 in the afternoon I completed challenge 12 and in doing so completed my year long challenge!

The event was very different from all the others as I attempted to row the equivalent of crossing the channel and back a total 42 miles!

Up to the week before the furthest I had actually rowed was 7 miles, then on the Sunday before hand and less than a week before the actual event I rowed 26 miles. Was this foolish to do it so close to the challenge..well as it turned out no it wasn't and I completed the distance in 6 hours and 39 minutes.

I was anticipating around 8 hours so to finish 1 hour and 20 minutes quicker took me by surprise, although given the pain I had in my arse it was a blessing really!

The challenge was carried out at the Borough Shopping Parade in Chippenham. Halogen UK who operate the shopping parade were brilliant and provided gazebos, a face painter, elves to give out chocolates and the Santa suit!

They had also advertised the event which was awesome.

I arrived at Chippenham on Friday evening where I stayed with Russ and Jen (Eva's parents), they provided me with a great carb loading meal as we made the final arrangements for the Saturday.

Unfortunately Veryan (the wife) and the kids weren't able to join me for the last challenge as it was a case of either the rower or them...on this occasion the rower won and they stayed at home.

It was a relatively early start on Saturday morning but I was able to enjoy having breakfast with Eva who became partial to my toast in the process!

Russ and I set off about 7:45 with the plan to start around 8:30, unfortunately this message didn't quite reach Jane Boulton the manager at Springboard who, along with a team of helpers, arrived just before 7! 

With the gazebos and rower in place there was only one thing left to do.....that's right change in to the Santa outfit!

So at around 8:40 with my support crew including Bouncy Bear in place I started the first half of the challenge 34,000 metres or 21 miles!

Being outside was great as it meant that I didn't get too hot even in the Santa suit and I had lots of distractions from all the shoppers. 

I must also say a big thank you to cafe Nero who gave me free tea all day which for a massive tea drinker like myself was amazing, the only issue was trying to drink it and row at the same time!

Throughout the day supports came and went thanks to a rota put in place by the springboard team. Even Bouncy Bear seemed to regenerate more times than Dr Who but the kids loved it unfortunateky they weren't to sure of the guy on the rower who sort of looked like Santa!

After 3:09 I had completed the first half of the challenge and in theory had landed in France. 

I made a quick pit stop (again thank you cafe Nero for letting me use the toilets) and reapplied some lube then it was back on the rower for the return journey.

This was the tough part and I went through a tricky spell but after more tea and a warm pasty (eaten whilst rowing) I came out of it the other side.

As I said earlier I had a number of people who distracted me whilst I was rowing including some carol singers

And the Mayor of Chippenham

After another 3 hours and 30 minutes I completed the second half of the event.

So in a total of 6 hours and 39 minutes I had done and completed challenge 12 and the entire Average Joe Challenge!

The team from Springboard did an amazing job on the day and as a result they collected over £590 (including gift aid) which has helped get the fundraising total to just over £4,800 which is bloody brilliant and made one girl very happy!

The donation page is open until the end of January so all being well we should pass the £5k target!

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

Again I want to thank everyone for their support throughout the year, it has been epic and in the coming weeks I will post a blog to summarise the last 12 months.

In the mean time I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Andy

Final Countdown!

So here we are after what has been a truely amazing year where I have completed awesome challenges and events back to back it comes down to this the final challenge! 

With only three days left until the big event I want to take a few minutes to reflect on the 12 months of challenges undertaken in 2013. 

It all started in January with challenge 1 and my first Ultra Marathon - the Country to Capital Ultra which I completed in 7 hours and 49 minutes.

February in glorious sunshine Challenge 2 was the London Ultra all 32 miles (should have been 31) which I completed in 5 hours 3 minutes!

March – Challenge 3 I went for a run in the New Forest with their 31 mile Ultra Marathon and finished in 5 hours and 16 minutes and came 26th out of 50.

April – Challenge 4 was a biggy and one of my favourites where I completed 6 marathons in 6 days.

Day/Marathon 1 (27miles) - 4hrs 30mins

Day/Marathon 2 (26.2miles) - 5hrs 16mins

Day/Marathon 3 (27miles) - 5hrs 6mins

Day/Marathon 4 (26.2miles) - 5hrs 5mins

Day/Marathon 5 (26.2miles) - 4hrs 45mins

Day/Marathon 6 (26.2miles) - 4hrs 24mins

May Challenge 5 was the first of the cycling events and after 7hrs and 46mins I completed the 105 mile hilly course of the Castle Ride and in one piece, just but it hurt!

June Challenge 6 I went to Wales and took on the mountains and after 11hrs and 58mins and a number of climbs over 1600 feet I completed the 132 mile dragon ride!

July –“toe gate” and I was out of action due to gout - would this be the end of the challenge......No way!

August Challenge 7 Many people have enjoyed cycling the 140 mile route from the Lake District, across the Pennines and ending up in Tynemouth or Sunderland, but they usual do this over 3 or 4 days not try to tackle the beast in one day. However after 14 hours and 12 minutes I finally crossed the finish line completing 7 of the 12 challenges!

Challenge 8 – the Essex 100 and final bike ride seemed a breeze compared to the others and I completed it in 5 hours 52 minutes.

Challenge 9 - September - London Duathlon which was a 10k run followed by a 44k bike ride and to finish it off a cheeky 5k run. I completed it in 2 hours 51 minutes and it also meant that I had competed 3 challenges in 4 weeks!

Challenge 10- October it was back to wales again (the north this time) to take on more mountains but by foot this time in the Snowdonia Marathon, I crossed the line in 4 hours 12 minutes.

Challenge 11 November - Winter 100 (100 mile run), the toughest challenge yet and after 28 hours and 24 minutes I finished!

Now to Challenge 12. It is on Saturday 14 December where I will row the channel and back that's 42 miles on a rowing machinein Borough Parade Shopping Centre in Chippenham.

I know with Christmas looming people are busy getting ready for the big day but if you are free please come along and cheer me on. It should be a great day there is lots going on in Chippenham that weekend including a Victorian Chritmas Market.

I have also agreed to be dressed as Santa so that's got to be worth a look or at least a quid or two!

To date Ihas raised nearly £3,500 all for Springboard and it would be great to get to that wonderful £5,000 target!

So if you've not done so already or have and would like to donate more to Springboard please visit my fundraising page at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

Thank you!

Toughest challenge yet!

Well it's now nearly two days since I completed the Winter 100 (Challenge 11) and it's safe to say that this was not only the hardest challenge to date but the hardest thing I have ever done!

But after 28 hours and 24 minutes I finished alongside my partner in crime for the challenge Mr Steve Drake!

Steve was a tower of strength throughout the race and really helped me to get to the finish line in one piece!

The race had started off really well and was going to our agreed strategy as we initially aimed to complete the race in 24 hours.

After the first 25 miles we were both very chirpy and within our 6 hour target, the only concern was that we may have gone off a bit too quick.

Leaving for the second 25 miles we both knew that it would be during this section that it would turn dark. This happened a lot quicker than we had anticipated so we both got out our torches and continued on the route.

Now to make the race more challenging the whole route was cross country which meant that the only light we had was that of the torches this made navigating our way ever harder.

The second spur also included a fair amount of climbing but despite this we completed 50 miles in under 12 hours.

Along every spur there was 4 check points, each one was stocked with food and fluids to get you through the race. 

Now being a master of working the buffet I was in my element as I negotiated my way through the savory eggs, sausage rolls, pork pies and wraps all of which were washed down with a brew!

Now I appriciate that this doesn't sound like the food of athletes but this might be the reason why I've taken to ultra marathons so well as it's not just about energy gels and jelly babies!

It wasn't just the food at the check points that helped us get through, the volunteers that were on hand were brilliant throughout the whole race!

We were lucky to also have support of the family and friends and a special mention needs to go to Martyn and Viv Hodges, Eva's grandparents, who stayed up the whole night and met us at all the checkpoints!

Knowing that they were on hand was great comfort, particularly when it started to get tough!

We headed out on the 3rd spur and we knew that this was going to be the toughest section both physically and mentally, it is safe to say it didn't disappoint! 

With the temperature dropping we continued on and although our pace was dropping too we kept moving trying to make sure we stayed warm!

When we finally got back to Streatley at 75 miles we knew that any hope of completing it in 24 hours had now gone.

But despite that we kept our spirits up, got some more warm clothes on and hot food down us before heading out on the final 25 miles.

It was now after 5:30 in the morning and it was still dark and things started to get really tough. As we trudged on it was becoming harder and harder to keep our eyes open, this was a very strange feeling! 

With words of encouragement to each other we made it to the check point and refuelled again despite it only being 4 miles from Streatly where we had just left.

What was a great sight when we left the check point was that it as daylight and this was the moral boost that we needed!

We headed off to the final turn point at Reading which seemed to take an eternity to get to but we made it knowing that we only had 12.5 miles to go.

It now became a race against the clock to finish before the 30 hour cut off and to bring home the buckle!

We got to the final checkpoint 4 hours before the cut off with only 4 miles to complete. So we waved goodbye to the support team and set off for the last time!

It was a great feeling knowing that we were slowly ticking off the last few miles and then we saw it, the bridge we crossed at the start of the last stage, we had done it!

And we had brought home the buckle!

After the race I saw this quote and I thought how significant it was having gone through this.

So I can now say that I am a centurion runner which is a great feeling. 

Not only that after the race James told me that he was proud of me which is an amazing feeling having your son say that!

I was also overwhelmed by all the messages of support throughout the day even though I didn't get to read them until I'd finished.

Surprisingly my recovery has been better then what I'd thought it would be and today I've been able to get back to the training with less than two weeks to go until the final challenge!

So it's one last push with the training and one big sponsorship drive! 

If you'd like to donate please click here https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

So here we go on the last few days of what has been a truely epic year! 

3 weeks 2 challenges....the final push!

It's quite hard to comprehend that in three weeks time this crazy but amazing year of challenges will be over!

That's right just three weeks! 

The penultimate challenge is next week which will be the most challenging of them all, the Winter 100 run.

The Winter 100 is a 100 mile continuous trail race based out of the village of Streatley on the river Thames. The course reflects the shape of a cross and takes runners on a series of 4 different 25 mile out and back spurs using sections of both the Ridgeway and Thames Path National Trails. 

Runners will depart from Streatley at 10am on Saturday 30th November and make their way on the Western Spur to Little Wittenham on the first out and back section on the Thames Path. On returning to Streatley, runners will be faced with the more challenging Northern Spur of the course, out to Swyncombe Farm on the Ridgeway before returning to Streatley a second time. Spur 3 takes runners west on the Ridgeway to Chain Hill before returning to Streatley for the final leg on the Thames Path to Reading and return for their 100 mile finish. 

The race starts at Streatley and returns there every 25 miles. The course is designed as a series of 4 out and backs making use of Streatleys unique position, at the confluence of the Thames Path and Ridgeway National Trails.

Both trails are maintained by the National Trail Trust together with the various county councils and are open year round to the public, routed across a mixture of private land and public footpaths & byways. 

The race at first travels to Little Wittenham on the Thames Path, traveling up through Wallingford, crossing the river at Benson Lock and making a turn around at Days Lock, a remote point on the river where there will be a small aid station - before returning to Streatley via the same route. 

The second out and back is on the Ridgeway, along the water initially before cutting in land past South and North Stoke, to Swncombe aid station and returning to Streatley once again. 

Spur 3 takes runners on the South Westerly Ridgeway path through Bury Down & East Hendred, to Chain Hill aid station and returning to Streatley. 

The final section of the course travels east through Whitchurch via the Village Hall aid station and Tilehurst as far as the Waterside Centre on the Thames Path at Reading before heading back to Streatley and the 100 mile finish. 

After this I then have 2 weeks before the very last challenge which is a 42 mile row on a rowing machine at the Borough Shopping Parade in Chippenham.

It's crazy to think that I've gone from this at the Country to Capital ultra marathon in January

To this...

Donations are now up and around the £3k mark which is awesome but I'd love to reach that £5k target by the end of the year!

If you wish to make a donation of any sort please go to https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

Happy Birthday Eva!

Today is the birthday of a very special girl and the inspiration for my crazy challenges. 

That's right today it is the 2nd birthday of the beautiful Eva!

As you know all the money I raise from doing the 12 challenges in 12 months will go to Springboard Opportunity Group who do fantastic work with disabled children and provide valuable support to families. 

Eva attends the Springboard Opportunity Group several times a week where she gets amazing help to aid her development.

Donations of any size will really make a difference and help the Springboard team to continue their great work and put a smile on all the children's faces just like Eva! To donation please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

Happy Birthday Eva! X

And then there was two....

Its now a couple of days since I completed challenge 10, the Snowdonia Marathon and my legs are still feeling it which I'm not sure if its the running or the 600 plus miles of driving that I did either side of the event.

Having survived the night and my first experience in a youth hostel I ventured down to breakfast and was greeted by a number of other runners tucking into their porridge.

I started off with a couple of weetabix but the smell of bacon cooking was just too good and so I followed this up with a full english. 

The race didn't start until 10:30 so I figured that I had a few hours to digest that bad boy and besides I did a similar thing when I did 6 marathons in 6 days and had no real after affects.

The talk of storms and torrential rain, thankfully, had been just that and although it was very windy it was dry, the only dilemma was how many layers to wear. I decided I would wait until I got down to the start to make my final choice.

I waved goodbye to the hostel and drove down to the start.

As you can image with 1,500 plus runners taking part there was a lot of hustle and bustle in and around Llanberis. 

Parking was pretty straight forward and we were greeted by this beautiful view.

After my usual 4/5 pit stops I started to head towards the start line which was about a 15 minute walk from the centre of Llanberis.

With the clock ticking down to 10:30 the excitement was building among the runners. Following a short briefing the hooter sounded and we were off.

Having ran a couple of events before I knew not to get too carried away in the early stages and to run my own race. This was tough especially when you have a stream of runners going past up but I knew that there was a good chance I would see some of them again later in the race.

After only a couple of miles we reached the first major climb. This went on for a couple of miles where we climbed up to around 1,100 ft.

It was great to get to the summit where we were greeted by a water station, after a quick gulp of water it was down hill. Now the thought of going downhill would be pleasing to some people but it is tough going on the legs particularly the impact on the knees.

The route then changed from tarmac to trail which was again tough going particularly as it was quite wet and uneven.

I was feeling pretty good at the halfway point and I then started to increase my pace slightly. This was when I started to see a few familiar faces from the start of the race as it was now me passing them.

This continued as I gradually ticked off the miles with the growing anticipation of the final and toughest climb.

As I reached the 22 mile mark the gradient started to change and there were a lot more people walking in front of me. I continued up to the point where it made no difference if I was running or walking as the pace was the same.

This was a very steep climb for 2 miles where the wind blew a gale across us. It was a great feeling to get to summit knowing that the remaining 2 miles were all down hill.

What I didn't know was that about a mile and half of it was actually cross country. Despite that and the risk of twisting my ankle or blowing my knee I hit the last section pretty hard and as we entered into Llanberis again I knew there was only a few hundred metres to go.

With the finish line in site I managed to do a sprint finish and thanks to the cool race numbers that had our names on it, it was a great buzz to hear people shouting your name on the finish straight.

I crossed the line in 4 hours 12 minutes which considering the hills, and the fact I walked some of the last one, was very pleasing as my PB for a marathon is 3 hours 54 minutes.

After getting my commemorative coaster and being wrapped in a foil blanket I headed to the baggage hall for a well earned brew!

I managed to grab a shower before getting back into the car for a 3 hour drive where I was finally able to enjoy a refreshing pint or 2!

Some of the official photos are available to have a look at click here 

As you know this is all in aid of Springboard Opportunity Group who do fantastic work with disabled children and provide valuable support to families. To donate please visit my sponsorship page here

So then there were two...that's right only two more challenges to go. 

The next one is the Centurion running Winter 100 in five weeks time, to have a look at what lies ahead of me click Winter 100             

A wet wales welcome!

So it's now 8:30 the night before Challenge 10 the Snowdonia Marathon and the wind is howling outside and the rain is lashing down!

But at least I'm inside and all being well it will blow over by tomorrow morning, I can at least dream!

If the prospect of the hills, wind and rain weren't enough to worry about getting here was a challenge in itself!

After 7 boring hours stuck in the car with only my bad singing to keep me company I made it to Llanberis to get my race number.

Pretty much all of the journey was baked in sunshine that was until I crossed the boarder where I was greeting by an almighty storm with lightening flashing all around me!

By the time I got to the registration it had started to brighten up although still very windy and raining!

I headed of to the youth hostel and on route there was a slight break in the clouds.

Well this is my first experience of a youth hostel and to be fair it's not too bad although I'm not sure how comfortable this bad boy is going to be but at least I got the bottom bunk!

I'm fed and watered so it's off to bed  now to get a bit of sleep before to big race tomorrow!

Practice makes perfect

Well it's been a while since my last blog update but I'm pleased to say that all is good and I'm in pretty good shape as I head into challenge number 10 on Saturday (26 October) in the shape of the snowdonia marathon.

What I realised this week is that it is now exactly a year since I started training for the first challenge, I have now covered over 2,650 miles which has taken 323 hours to complete. 

At this rate and with only 3 events to go I think it is possible to exceed 3,000 miles and I can still walk, well just about!

My training has started to focus on my last challenge and with the help of a rowing machine I have at home I'm gradually increasing my mileage as I build up to the 42mile row!

More on that in the coming weeks but my attention for now is on the latest challenge and despite people thinking that it's only a marathon and I've ran further a numerous occasions this year none of these runs included the hills/mountains that I will be taking on around Snowdon.

The 2 main climbs are 1,100ft after about 2/3 miles and 1,200ft after around 23 miles and along with the beautiful scenery and the weather forecast of wind and rain it makes this no ordinary marathon!

The event is going to be televised so if you get a chance tune in to S4C on Sunday 27 October at 8pm an look out for this guy!

Living in Essex and in particular Southend it's a little bit limited on the number of hills to practice on so this has been my hill training.

With around 112 steps I hope doing laps of this will get me through the beastie climbs I'm going to face!

I've received great support again over the last few weeks which has included a follow up article in the Southend Echo 

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/10714347.Andy_s_amazing_charity_challenge_is_almost_over/

Thanks again to the team for their continued support in promoting the challenge.

The sponsorship has gone a bit slower than I'd like at this point and I am behind where I'd like to be at this point but I'm confident that I will get close to the £5k target.

As always to donate please go to https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe 

Your donations will go to a directly to Springboard Opportunity Group and will help support the excellent work that they do for children with disabilities.

Well it's time to pack ahead of my 6 hour journey tomorrow where an overnight stay in the Snowdon Ranger youth hostel awaits for me!

Number 9 and feeling fine!

Well it has been a crazy month as I have completed 3 challenges in 4 weeks but thankfully the body and more importantly my toes have stood up to the test.

Yesterday (Sunday 15 September) I completed Challenge 9 - the London Duathlon!

This was probably the only event where I knew what to expect as I took part in the event last year. The only difference this time were the weather conditions.

Last year it was probably one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures around 30c, yesterday, although it was a beautiful morning, temperatures struggled to get in to double figures and then there was the strong wind which happened to be mainly going in to you regardless where you were on the course.

Despite that I managed to beat my time from last year by just over a minute which doesn't sound  much but given the fact that Mo Farah and Jonny Brownlee were both beaten yesterday by a second a minute is quite a lot in these events.

Although I wasn't due to start until 10:30, I set off from home about 6am, so another early start while the rest of the house slept.

I got to Richmond just before 8 and had a 25 minute walk through Richmond park to the events village.

The advantage of getting there early meant I could get my bike racked up and I could visit the toilets at least half a dozen times before the start.

As the clock ticked down towards 10:30 the number of people congregating by the start pens grew, they let us through about 15 minutes before the start and I was lucky enough to be in the first 25 to go.

I say lucky, it was not that lucky when you realise that the people passing you in the first few miles were actually in the groups that started after you!

Anyway I set off in to the head wind which was pretty grim. The route was pretty simple a 10km loop (red line) of the park followed by 4x11km loops(blue line) on the bike than a cheeky little 5km loop(green line) to finish.

After about 5km on the first running loop I finally had the wind behind me which certainly helped to recoup some of the time I lost running into the wind.

I reached the first transition and felt ok, I had a quick change into my helmet, cycle shoes and ate some jelly beans, then it was out to cycle 44km.

Now doing the event last year has some advantages but I was also able to remember the steep climb that I had to do not once but 4 times!

You would of thought that taking on the Welsh hills and the Pennines would have helped me but no I still struggled up the hill! 

Fortunately the last section of the cycle route was both downhill and with the wind behind us, which meant you had just enough time to recover before taking on the hill and wind again!

I finished the cycle section about a minute slower than last year but the difference this time was that my legs felt ok and not like they were going to cramp up.

So I racked my bike, changed back into my trainers, took on more fluid and jelly beans and I set off for the last leg and the cheeky 5km.

I had the usual jelly leg feeling associated with changing from cycling to running but this cleared just in time to take on a hill less than 1km in to the run.

Unlike last year I actually got stronger as the run went on and I was able to kick on up to the finish line.

The 5km run was actually just over 3 minutes quicker than my time last year and only 4 minutes slower than my PB for the distance.

It's amazing the difference a year makes as although I was only a minute quicker, I was able to walk away straight after I finished back to my kit, where last year I felt like collapsing in a heap!

So that is it I am now a Duathlete!

Richmond park is a beautiful setting for an event like this and it's great to see loads of deer roaming freely as you run or cycle by.

There were a few lucky escapes with some rogue deer running across the road, however fortunately there was no sign of Fenton! (Check out YouTube Jesus Christ in Richmond Park: Original upload - Brilliant)!

With the bike now being tucked up for the winter there is now only 3 events between me and completing the whole challenge!

Snowdonia Marathon, Winter 100 run and 42miles on a rowing machine!

Bring it on!