Race the Sun… The Bury Breakfast Club did good!
Steven McGrath and Jonathan Cobbold from Rudlings Wakelam, Shaun Calvert from the Mortgage Bureau and Jeremy Hennell-James from Hennell-James Photography all completed the ‘Race the Sun’ this weekend as a team from the Bury Breakfast Club, who actually fielded two teams in this event.
Up with the Lark at 0445, the boys set off at 0618. First came a cycle leg of 22 miles. The start was fine, but there was a tough off-road muddy section up hill until they got to the bottom of Pen y Fan which they all found quite tiring. After a quick reload of food and water rations, they started the climbing part of the challenge; Corn Du (873m), Pen y Fan (886m) and Cribyn (795m). The distance for the hill climbs totalled about 8 miles, but they were very steep. This was a hard section; Steven felt it was probably his favourite part of the day! The boys then got back on their bikes and cycled a further 3 miles before canoeing around Pontsticill Reservoir for a further 3 miles.
Back on the bikes again, with tired legs and sore backsides, the boys set off on the final 22 mile leg back to the finish. There was quite a strong head wind on this section (isn’t there always?) which was really tiring with long uphill sections. With 9 – 10 miles left, they felt they were on the homeward straight and cycled hard to the finish line.
The boys finished at approximately 1550, taking a total of around 9.41 hours making them 38th out of 88. The other team completed in a commendable 13.02 hours making them 85th out of 88.
There was a great atmosphere on the day, with other competitors being very friendly and chatty. The event was superbly organised and definitely something the boys would consider doing again…..
The boys are now busy collecting all the money they raised. The total is expected to be quite high, so watch this page for the total raised for this really worthwhile charity. A big thank you to everyone who sponsored the boys…