BACKGROUND

In August 2011 I’m going to have a crack at all seven of our Triathlons on consecutive days, culminating on the final day with The ForestMan.

There is, I promise, a (relatively) reasonable explanation for this attack of madness:

Last Summer it dawned on me to be just how much of a struggle it must be for a small and not particularly “trendy” charity to attract funds in the face of higher profile competition: especially in the current economic climate. As a company, RaceNewForest had already become involved with the Trussell Trust to a limited extent via some of our races but I began to wonder whether there was something I could do as an individual to make an impact.

Now, it may come as a surprise to many of you that until three years ago I actually used to take part in Triathlons on a regular basis and used to put in enough training to be reasonably competitive in my (elderly) age-group. As our events have grown, however, I have struggled to find the time and motivation to race and train…..too much of a “Busman’s Holiday”, I guess!!
I began to wonder whether the specific challenge of fund raising could fire me up enough to drag myself into shape to take part in “something”. But what kind of “something”?

It would need to be a significant challenge as I already knew I could finish an Ironman when fit. So I began chatting through a few ideas with Tim Harris (a man renowned for endurance challenges of stupid proportions!!). I’d always said I’d love a crack at one of our own events (racing in the Forest is so challenging) but that is impossible for a Race Organiser. So, what if we came up with a challenge involving the RaceNewForest series.

Jokingly I suggested that we should do all seven races on consecutive days, finishing with The ForestMan (a really tough Iron Distance challenge in it’s own right!!).

Unfortunately this was a suggestion that also captured Tim’s imagination and he didn’t let me forget it. (At least he has had the decency to share in the suffering by doing it too!!!)

Once we “went public” with the challenge I received phone calls from two guys who have been in the sport for at least as long as me and who were fired up by a different type of challenge.
So here we are, three “50 something” year-olds, including one who hasn’t trained for three years (and who would rather be up the pub!!!!) along with a keen, fit youngster (but one whose first ever Tri was only last year) and we’re about to have a crack at taking on seven of the toughest triathlons in the UK starting on August 8th and culminating with The ForestMan Iron Distance event on Sunday August 14th.