Wednesday 19 July 2017

SALLY...PART 183. THE SHEER MADNESS OF MODERN FITNESS FANATICS !

Three weekends ago my 37 year old son Julian persevered through HELL to compete a in a CITY TO SUMMIT race in Scotland so severe that one wonders why anyone would want to put themselves through it !
Here are the details for historic purposes to show his descendents where their toughness stems from !
130 people began the day at 4:30am with a 15 mile run from Queensferry across the Forth Road Bridge back into Edinburgh before riding their bikes for 115 miles towards Fort William and finishing their 19 plus hour days with a FULL MARATON over totally rocky terrain which included climbing and descending Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis where temperatures at the summit were -5*C !
They cycled and ran through twelve solid hours of gale force winds and rain which hit them full in the face !
All feeling had gone from their extremities and hypothermia was a mere breath away for most of those 40 who managed to finish !

AS you can tell 90 gave up somewhere along the line !

Julian couldn't face the mountain but somehow dug deep and found the extra resources to keep going !
He has since failed to recover fully and is still fighting off a chest infection which I hadn't realised is par for the course for extreme sportsmen and women and thankfully he has decided never to take part in any such thing again !
My wife had followed the ordeal via the internet and nearly burst with pride when Julian's name showed that he had got to the top of Ben Nevis, shouting out, "HE'S DONE IT !" at about 11:15pm !

Naturally his entire family is extremely proud of him but also completely flummoxed by his need to do such things after he had cycled 385 miles in two days a couple of weeks before this madness !

Long may it NOT continue !

(Julian is only in some of the photos...which aren't necessarily shown in the right order !)

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