Racing the Sun — the Kick Off
Much like many crazy notions, it seemed like a good idea at the time. We’d always heard so much about the “Race the Sun” triathlon-style adventure challenge but we kept missing out on registering. This year we were pumped — and courtesy of a cheeky early reservation by Mr Mike ‘The Hawk’ Hawkins we got our spot.
What’s in store? Race the Sun involves a 50 mile ride, a fast hike up Helvellyn and a kayak across Lake Thirlmere, all in the UK’s Lake District.
The catch? Like the name says, we’ll be starting at sunrise then ‘racing the sun’ to finish by sunset.
Chat’s one thing — but now it’s time to step up and start delivering. Our fearless team TWSS* (see below) have already kicked off with Mhairi taking on the Great North Swim and Alice’s charity sale at the BBC on Tuesday. We’re expecting big things — no pressure. ;)
Our immediate next steps include ever-longer training steep walks in the run-up to the event. We’re feeling somewhat confident about the walking stages having got a tonne of hiking experience between us — including crushing* the West Highland Way in 2016. That said, the Lakes (and especially Helvellyn) always have a trick up their sleeves — so it’s not one to take too lightly.
The cycling stage is going to a bit of an interesting one as well — as we’re all fairly OK on bikes, but the big challenge will be progressing from bike to hike to bike to boat… all in one day.
On wheels, just like the walks, the Lakes keeps you guessing. From winding country lane to steep mountain climbs, it’s all in there — which raises the question, what type of bike and tyre set up do we go for? It’s in the Lakes after all, but on roads. After having the bike serviced this week, it’s feeling smooth for me, so maybe just an intelligent tyre choice will prevail here….
Then finally, the water. This is the big unknown and we’ll be working on getting into a canoe or kayak over the next couple of weeks. For me, for the first time in about 15 years. This should be entertaining — we’ll try to arrange video footage when we inevitably capsize!
Right — so we’ll try and chronicle all of the exploits we have in the run-up to the event here. We are raising funds for Action Medical Research — an amazing children’s medical charity. To find out more about the amazing work they do, the causes they take on and to help us out with some sponsorship if you can, head to our fundraising page.
TWSS?
Anyone who knows The Hawk, will be familiar with the phrase ‘That’s What She Said’. We couldn’t not call the team that after hearing the phrase 18,000 times over the course of our outdoor adventures. I now just need to come up with a better group icon for this page… :)
