After months of training (not really), blood (really), sweat (lots) and tears (just a few), two Royds teams completed the Extreme 5 Challenge on Sunday 10th July. The event comprised of a fundraising challenge followed by a relay race involving a 1.5km swim, a 10km kayak, a 40km cycle and a 10km run.
Having left London at silly o’clock on the Sunday morning, Mother Nature was kind and the teams arrived at Willen Lake in Milton Keynes to glorious sunshine. With the fundraising in the bag (more about that later) and four challenges ahead, everyone was quietly focused on their own discipline; presumably picturing the finish, the inevitable glory and trying really very hard to ignore the competition who all somehow seemed to be from the buff, Lycra clad, aerodynamic-cycle-helmet-wearing section of society. Even down to Union jack embossed kayaks (!). It was all just scare tactics surely?
At 9am sharp, swimmers Helen and Fiona tippy-toed into the goose poop infested waters doing their upmost to look glamorous in tight fitting wetsuits and bearing in mind the calls of “keep your mouth shut girls” being the advice from safety conscious HR on dry land (thanks Cheryl). A sharp blow of the horn induced a flurry of splashing from approximately 30 competitors and after receiving a couple of friendly competitive blows to the head each, both Helen and Fiona emerged from the water to tag the kayakers.
It soon became clear Lucy had been given the dodgy wheeled shopping trolley version of a kayak. Once she had finished impressing us all with her 360 spins (of which we note the Union jack embossed crew achieved none), she powered round 10kms – yes 10 kms - of lake. Hats go off to her for this massive effort and all were pleased to hear we were not penalised for returning the paddle with smatterings of blood. She is now known on Carter Lane as ‘Lucy True Grit Hollis’.
Next came 40kms of cycle power as Mark and Jack used every inch of their lawyering logic to avoid being outsmarted by the local youths who had moved the signs meaning the cycle course was slightly different for each competitor. In addition, nimble fingered Mark clearly has been taking notes from McLaren as he fixed a puncture in just six minutes and continued in the race as if nothing had happened. Jack on the other hand got a puncture in the first 20 yards (give me some poetic licence here) yet continued for 2 hours and 16 minutes on a gravel track to complete his section of the race, with no water, long trousers and a completely flat tyre! John Wayne is a big girls blouse compared to Jack; however they now both have a similar gait.
Finally the run. Naomi and Cheryl were up against it due to aforementioned equipment failures – what is it they say about a workman and his tools? But they both flew round, Cheryl heeding her previous advice about keeping her mouth shut and Naomi wishing she had as she swallowed a swarm of flies.
As the sun set on what turned out to be an eventful day, the teams enjoyed a cool beer, a BBQ and that warm fuzzy feeling of achieving something worthy of a mention around the water cooler at work next week.
On a sincere note, however, the teams would like to thank all those who supported the cause as having raised over £400 in aid of Homes in Zimbabwe and Ndoro. 8 members of the Royds fraternity completed all five challenges in a style of their own.
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