Never the type to turn my nose up at a challenge I’ve now found myself entered for the annual ‘Enduro Challenge’ competing to raise money for the chilren’s Charity Sparks.
Now in it’s 5th year, the Enduro Challenge has seen teams being represented by company’s such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse & Morgan Stanley, all competing for various Charities.
Unfortunately the Enduro Challenge is every bit as daunting as its name and a team of 6 athletes have to get from the Tower of London to the centre of Paris using the 3 triathlon disciplines (swim, bike & run) against the clock.
The race will consist of:
- 90 mile run relay from the Tower of London to Dover
Each team member will run pre-determined 10-14km sections in a relay format
- 25 mile swim relay of the English Channel
Each team member will swim 1 hour rotations from the Dover docks to Calais (without a wetsuit as per CS&PF rules) with at least one swim per person being at night
- 180 mile cycle relay from Calais to the Eiffel Tower in the heart of Paris
Each team member will ride a 30 mile cycle stretch at night stopping at set changeover points to change cyclists
Although the distances aren’t huge given the 6 athletes competing, this event is one of stamina, endurance and mental strength. When an athlete isn’t competing they’ll need to be encouraging the other athletes, giving them all the support they need and sleep will be at a minimum.
The cause
Putting myself through this is nothing compared to the hard work the guys at the Children’s Charity Sparks do. Every day 70 babies in the UK alone are born with a life threatening condition or illness that will affect them and their families for life. Sparks aims to reduce this statistic so that all children have the chance to live a healthy, active life. Their motto is simple, all they want is for all children to be born healthy and stay healthy and the Enduro challenge alone has helped raise £1mil for various charities including Sparks since its first running in 2005, allowing them all to continue their fantastic work!
That’s why from this challenge I aim to raise over £3k in sponsorship donations to fund the vital medical research carried out by Sparks.
I’m in the process of setting up a justgiving page at the moment which will allow people to donate direct to this great cause using a debit or credit card and also see how the total is coming along.
As soon as the justgiving page is up I’ll upload another blog with details as well as an update on how training and preparations are going.
For more information on Sparks and the fantastic work they do, visit their website at www.sparks.org.uk