The UK challenge - Stage 2 - Minimal Intelligen5e

Stage 2 was a 2.5 hour fastest to finish run and kayak. Team of 4 - 2 runners, 2 kayaking. Result = time taken - bonus + penalties. The scenario was to capture spies by collecting their coordinates at 'Intelligence Points' (IP) - some on land, some on water, then decode their grid reference and running as a team to the Spy Point (SP) to take them down. Each team needed to capture at least two spies to avoid a penalty and there was an added complication of package drops. Teams could chose to pick up and drop off dossiers at several points in a specific order to gain bonuses, however start a dossier without completing it and all hell would break loose.

Thankfully I was tooled to the max with several AKs and a Magnum for some serious pistol whipping, but they proved too heavy and we decided to ditch them and use our stealth instead. Vanessa 'The Hot Ness Monster' Harding had spent the previous evening strategising and had selected several alternative routes that allowed us to pick up two spies and the two dossier bonuses, we didn't have a map yet, but we knew the points available, so we would need to quickly establish the distance per time bonus of each route, once we saw the map. We wouldn't know how much running a spy point entailed until we collected the coordinates, so there would an element of luck involved. Running again - kerpow, Ness and I would team up, with Leo and Vicky taking the main kayaking duties. We could change the sub-teams during the stage, as it was likely we would be weaker on the kayak and might need to share out the duties.

Becky Green from Accenture 5, red left at start

Simon sped off in the mass start and we immediately started hoisting the kayak into the water. All four had to kayak to the transition point before splitting and there were only two paddles, so I started off as the power, Leo the steering (some would say finesse), Ness calculating the best route on the map, while Vicky, our most experienced kayaker, saved herself for the epic effort to come. We got out clean and fast to try and avoid the demolition derby enfolding behind us and ten minutes later we were first into the transition, route set and feeling confident.

Accenture at the top of the picture leading out

We started off with the hardest spy worth the most points. We quickly sailed past our first IP point, noting down the coordinates 2nd - 19, a bit too quickly, a minute later remembering that we needed to both dib at the checkpoint. A quick backtrack and we were back on schedule (this was to remain our secret - no mistakes etc.). We passed Dame Kelly Holmes, looking strong and smiling, sadly her running partner was not, but that's hardly surprising - get yourself a bungee chord Kelly. The route was about 4.5 miles, but the navigation was easy, so we quickly finished our loop, noting down a couple of unmarked checkpoints - possible spy points, on the way. We were back ten minutes ahead of schedule, but with only half the coordinates there was nothing we could do, so we started planning. The kayaking was definitely the longer leg, but Leo and Vicky powered back, two minutes ahead of schedule. We calculated the SP - holy f to the moly,  the Spy Point was at least a 5k loop straight up the only hill on the course - far longer than we had expected; we needed to rethink our strategy. Vicky and I bungeed together, allowing Leo and Ness to bang heads; the kayaking was hard graft and going for even the third highest scoring spy would risk being late if the SP was a similar distance. The fourth highest would still allow us to get all of the dossier drop bonuses and could allow us time to go for a third spy if were ahead of time.

Dame Kelly landing

Ness and I set off again on a far shorter route. We were picking up one of the dossier packages, but we had to dib after twelve minutes, to give the kayakers time to make their package drop off first. We were there in 8 minutes, so we waited, then the fear crept in. What if Leo had taken longer? We were blitzing the run routes and didn't feel tired, so we decided to dib as late as possible and then sprint back to make up the time. We nectar gelled up, gave each other massages (might not be true) and 16 minutes in dibbed and dashed. We suspect Leo may have stopped to feed some passing ducks, as they didn't reach their checkpoint until 15 minutes - call us Uri Geller; our time delay had been vital. We regrouped, rebungeed and headed to our next SP. The map wasn't obvious, our coordinates were off and we only discovered afterwards that the scale of coordinates wasn't 1-10, but 1-6, so 41.3 was halfway across a square of the map and not a third. We couldn't find the spy, rechecked then ran to the only other place it could be - four minutes wasted, not a huge amount, but it was on me, aaaarrrrgggghhhhh.

The SP was close to the start of another Spy loop. It was a short one, so if we went flat out and got lucky on the next SP being close, the bonus time gained would be more than the time taken. We knew we were behind on the first stage, so we had to take some calculated risks to catch up.

Accenture

Leo and I bungeed up and went flat out back to the kayaks. We were paddling manically, but after 90 minutes of running, my legs were cramping, kneeling in the kayaks. After the first IP we realised it was taking too long, the risk hadn't been worth it, but by then we were committed. We skirted the second IP to try and read what it said - if the number was low, it meant that the SP was going to be a long way away and it made more sense to abandon the loop and head home. The IP was high, the SP was across the dam, it was far - over a k away, but not too far. We dibbed, ploughed back to the transition and as we neared started screaming to Ness and Vicky 'dam, run to the dam'. They eventually heard and started running. We beached, strewing paddles and life jackets everywhere and set off after them, knowing we were going to be late, so every minute taken counted double. Our legs weren't really working after the kayak and we were struggling to catch the girls. Vicky, expecting a bungee taxi ride, put her hand out for the karabiner, as I neared, I mustered "I've got to catch you first." We were going flat out and I was broken. We all dibbed and headed back, as I started to contemplate the kayak back, my lungs burning like as if in an 800 meter race. As we neared the kayaks I asked Ness how she felt about kayaking back, she realised it wasn't really a question though. We boarded and Ness powered away. Three minutes in, I felt fine again and I started to feel a bit guilty, as Ness was clearly tiring. I tried paddling with my hands, but Leo pointed out I was filling the boat with water rather than adding to the push, but she's not the hot ness monster for nothing and the monster took over, catching another team and bringing us back within ten minutes.

Team Holmes at the finish L-R Charlotte Hartley, Toby Garbett, Dame Kelly, Martyn Bernard

We were just under ten minutes late - a 19 minute penalty, the extra spy hadn't been worth it, as we would have saved time by coming in early. Still we'd made all of the dossier drops and captured two spies, not a bad hall. With penalties we ended up on a negative time of -0:20:15, third position for the stage, a good result given the amount of kayaking. We'd moved up into 5th, but were 42 minutes behind the new leaders - AWE. Next up was the cycling stage - traditionally a strength of AWE's and this year a bit of an unknown for us, we were going to have to take some risks or else AWE would be out of sight and that's exactly what we did.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on social media and subscribe to this blog in the top right of the page!!!

Position		Number	Time Taken	Bonus	Penalties	Stage Time
1	AWE	1	2:20:40	3:10:00		-0:49:20
2	Syngenta	13	2:27:36	3:10:00		-0:42:24
3	Accenture	4	2:39:55	3:20:00	0:19:50	-0:20:15
4	BRE	16	2:22:12	2:40:00		-0:17:48
5	AWE	3	2:16:22	2:30:00		-0:13:38
6	Accenture	5	2:07:19	2:20:00		-0:12:41

The UK challenge 2013 - Stage 1 - Going to Pieces

The UK challenge is a three day corporate challenge, combining trail running, mountain biking and kayaking with puzzles, problem solving and advanced strategy.  It's unique in its level of complexity and the highlight of my racing calendar.

Split into six stages, around fifty teams of six compete, trying to finish each stage in the quickest time. Teams can reduce their stage time by completing tasks, often against strict deadlines, but also face time penalties for any incomplete tasks attempted. The winning team therefore requires not just a high level of fitness, but also must be acutely aware of their abilities and not overestimate how much they can achieve in each time frame; one mistake can cost you the entire challenge.

2013 was my third year.  Racing in one of the two Accenture teams, we had a strong track record - winning a trophy or two each year, but losing out in the best mixed category to Capita Symonds in 2012  - a team led by a Duracell bunny, with a jet engine strapped to his back, and AWE in the overall team category - a team who I'm pretty sure were designed in the same lab as Ivan Drago. Despite Accenture's success, in my previous two challenges I had yet to win anything other than the highly coveted best photo award and having already blown the royalties received on a wham bar, it was fair to say l had a King Fries sized plate of chips on my shoulder.

Last year's Grand Prix Podium L-R AWE, Capita Symonds, Accenture

Stage One - Going to Pieces.

 

The first challenge was a fastest to finish, 90 minute night run stage. Teams can visit up to 12 checkpoints, displaying the segments of five pictures that had to be pieced together. You needed at least two complete pictures to ensure you didn't incur a large time penalty and correctly answering both picture 1 and 5 achieved a bonus worth at least twenty five minutes more than any other two combinations. Teams of four could split into pairs to visit the checkpoints, but the pictures had to be completed as a four at the answer point before heading home.  Stage time = time taken - bonuses + penalties.

Sprint start

Each stage starts with a mass sprint, akin to the opening of the Harrods sale, but with much more day glow and slightly fewer hand bags.  Each runner retrieves an envelope containing a map and typically some critical information about the stage, which you cannot fully plan your strategy without, forcing teams to plan against the clock, adapting their strategy as they go.

Envelope grab

We knew we were likely to be the quickest team on foot, so planned to visit at least the two highest scoring checkpoints, unless it added five miles to our route.  How much else we went for would depend on the distances vs bonus gained. Vanessa, who was staying behind to figure out our strategy for the next two stages and therefore only doing the sprint, took position before hurtling off into the night towards the envelopes.   Speeding back, she pulled out the map - the scale was huge, so these were small distances; we were going for the full monty. We split our teams - Leo, our fearless captain, was to run with Vicky, a challenger virgin, south through the fields. Simon, a 3.01 marathon runner, and I went for a smash and grab through the woods.  

GCHQ navigating at the start line

It took us a few seconds to get our bearings and we set off at a jog to the first checkpoint, aware that pumped full of adrenaline from the explosive start, it was all too easy to set off at break neck speed in the wrong direction.  The checkpoints were small sandwich boards covered in glow sticks, where both runners had to dib and the pieces of the pictures were displayed. The first two pieces were from a picture of a castle and of a cathedral. We had agreed a way of sketching the pictures, concentrating on each edge to ensure our pieces matched and that both runners would sketch all of the pieces. My drawing skills are about as good as Cecilia Gimenez's, but glancing across I saw that Simon's, were making as much sense as a weekend with Hunter S Thompson. Caution took over and we spent an extra 15 seconds or so at each checkpoint to make sure we had all of the details.

The map didn't offer many alternative routes, so navigation was relatively easy, even in the dark. We knew we were likely to be the fastest team on foot, so we started to turn the course into an extended interval session, knowing that each checkpoint gave us a chance to catch our breath. The pictures were beginning to take shape - a marina, a bottle of cider and even the nine-piece cathedral was starting to make sense.

The Start and Finish

We headed to the answer point to find numerous teams already there. Leo had arrived a few minutes earlier and begun making sense of the pieces and we quickly started matching our drawings. The majority were straight forward, the six piece puzzles taking a bit more time, we saved the nine piece until last and already had the top and bottom rows complete, having matched them to each other on route. For some reason we rushed the middle row, which cost us dearly. The first four were correct, but a mistake on the largest puzzle meant we missed forty minutes of bonuses (the other four combined were only worth thirty minutes) so this was a huge mistake, especially since we'd taken the extra time to run to every check point. We ran home, third team in, finishing in 59 minutes. 

I didn't want to show it to the rest of the team, but I was pretty gutted. This should have been a stage we nailed and our rush at the crucial moment, meant that instead of a 15 minute lead, we ended up in fifth, 25 minutes behind the leaders - team 5 - Accenture. You always want Accenture teams to do well, but knowing they had a strong kayaker and some good cyclists in their ranks, it was worrying to lose first blood. We refueled with our For Goodness Shakes and headed back early to strategise for the next day's first two stages -  a 2.5 hour kayak and run, followed by a 3 hour bike.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on social media and subscribe to this blog in the top right of the page!!!

		Number	Elapse	Bonus	Penalties	Time
1	Accenture	5	1:06:21	1:02:30		0:03:51
2	AWE	1	0:54:50	0:47:36		0:07:14
3	AWE	3	1:20:55	1:12:30		0:08:25
4	CGI	54	1:13:03	0:47:30		0:25:33
5	Accenture	4	0:59:31	0:31:15		0:28:16

The Sierra Leone Marathon - Challenge 5&6

As we passed through a small, isolated village in northern Sierra Leone, a small local child, glimpsing our car, sprinted towards us shouting "oporto, oporto"- "white man, white man". No electricity or running water, he probably hadn't seen anyone white for at least a year, if ever before. He had pure excitement in his eyes and a beaming white smile and as he neared our car, down came my window and up came my breakfast of goat kidney noodles - carb loading has certainly gone better in the past; this was going to be brutal!

Our 4 by 4 -
4 hours on a pirate ship ride

I was in Sierra Leone for my final two challenges - to podium at the Sierra Leone marathon and finish in under three hours. My preparations had already got off to a bad start - travelling with British Airways I was sat next to a larger than life gentleman for the overnight flight. Unfortunately he was also larger than his seat, his waist and arm covering the entire central armrest and several inches of my seat. My only escape was to contort my back over the window armrest and sevens hours later I arrived in Freetown, having been unable to sleep at all and in considerable discomfort.

River crossing

Following that morning's oral offerings and the remaining three hour drive to Makeni the day before the marathon, I spent the rest of the day trying to force down pretzels and water. I'd taken two days worth of carbs with me and by the evening in theory I'd eaten my carbs requirement for the day, but was still way down on calories. I'd had twelve pints of water trying to re-hydrate and was stuffed and couldn't face anything else. We were up at 4am, so I finished my 200 grams of beetroot and went to bed. 

I beat my alarm and went through my usual pre-race routine - breakfast of a large can of rice pudding, a beetroot shot, two imodium tablets and a nectar energy drink. I woke Kate to give her plenty of time for breakfast before realising I was still on UK time - it was only 3:30. Wide awake by now we double checked our provisions - nine gels, three electrolyte tabs and six pro-plus and made our way to the buses.

The Start 

The bus journey at 4.45am

Human pyramid pre-start

The starting area was electric. We were running from the local school and in addition to the 150 international runners over 700 locals had also registered. It was still dark and although the temperature wasn't too hot, it was pretty humid and everyone paced around, trying not to look nervous. I hoped I wouldn't need to go to the race toilets, twenty minutes out, my stomach was telling me otherwise. The local toilets were a hole in the ground, which by now had been decorated by numerous runners. Thankfully there were no lights to reveal the horror within and I braced the walls for dear life, as if the building was about to cave in on me, lowering myself into position. Despite and maybe because of my carb loading I clearly wasn't in perfect race shape.

The crew

The President

The start line was very informal, the full and half marathon were starting together, so I lined up behind last year's winner, a man a third of my height and half my weight. The winner of last year's half was also running the full marathon (he won in 1.15 last year) so there were already two competitors who should have me beat before considering the rest of the field. Settled into our starting positions, we were all swiftly moved aside, as it became clear that the President had arrived; he was running the 5k and as the sun rose, he set us on our way.

The starting lineup

I knew there would be a few runners starting quicker than me, but at least twenty runners shot off up the hill and even following a swift 6.20 first mile, I was well down the field. I'd been torn between going for a sensible negative split or trying to break the back of the race before the heat overwhelmed me. I'd mentally settled on a 6.40 mile pace, but two miles in, it felt extremely hard work and I already wanted to stop and walk.

Frantic Start

I was running with a local, who clearly knew people on the course. They were going crazy for him, then one friend laughed at him and spoke some krio "... oporto ... black man." He laughed, looked at me, then upped his speed. I'm pretty sure his friends were mocking him for being beaten by a white guy.

It normally took me twenty miles to feel this tired, the humidity was unrelenting and drowning my lungs. When the second placed international runner caught me at mile four and suggested we upped the pace, I knew I was beaten -sub three was never going to happen. I stopped looking at my watch and decided to only listen to my body. I've run enough marathons to know how it should feel, so I tried to relax and started running blind, my only hope being that I'd somehow recover on the run and pick it up at halfway.

Doubling back at 14 miles

As I ran I could hear a drumming noise with every step. I looked around for an explanation, before realising it was my stomach. My body was hosting its own internal race and I was preying that my Imodium would win - reaching my lower intestines before I received an unwanted spray tan.

Thankfully it won and by ten miles I was starting to settle and could fathom completing the race. We doubled back at half way and I counted ten runners ahead of me, the other international in tenth. Sub three was still out of the question, but I was growing stronger, closing in on tenth and knowing the local runners were inexperienced at this distance, hoped that I could start clawing back the places.

The water pouches (with a Nectar Hydro tab)

The next six miles or so were great. Passing the first international at fifteen, I could take in the surroundings, winding through the local villages, the kids running alongside. There were riverbeds of singing bullfrogs and I even started enjoying the total reluctance of some of the local marshals to leave their seats.

We were given water in pint sized pouches, that you opened with your teeth, often drenching you in water; a welcome refreshment. The locals had clearly never experienced many races before, some of them only to retrieve the water (in their own time) once you'd requested some. More than once I ran past a station of very relaxed marshals, signaled for water and disappeared over the horizon before they'd mustard the energy to move. Thankfully there were plenty of water stops, so it wasn't a problem, although I was a bit perplexed at mile 23 when someone shouted at me from the aid tent to slow down.

A typical village on the route

By this stage I felt pretty slow. I'd made progress until mile 19 or so when we headed into the hills through the local villages on single track. It was tough going and I felt as exhausted as I normally would at 24 miles. I was still catching runners, who were also wilting in the sun and I only resisted the urge to walk up the hills by repeatedly reminding myself that the second place international wouldn't be walking; I had to push on.  We doubled back over a railway line, which allowed me to gauge where my competition was and I'd built a two minute lead, then back into the town and onto the finish.

Rail crossing mid-run

I'd started to walk in parts through the town - I couldn't cool down and it felt like an ape was sat on my chest. I was also pretty sure that the first international prize was in the bag, so the time became irrelevant. The locals were still cheering, but I could tell from their looks they had no idea how long a marathon was; there was no sympathy for a walker. I took my top off crossing a junction and the locals looked in disbelief, transfixed by my daz-ultra white torso, it must have seemed to them like starring at the sun.

The route split - one sign for 5k, one for full and half marathon. The marshal signalled towards the 5k route, I figured we must have split here on the way out and the on in was the same for everyone Either way I was following his suggestion; he was holding an AK47 after all. It was armed marshals from there on in; maybe they'd believed that I really was Robin van Persie's brother!

Some street children going nuts for oportos

A walk and a jog and the finish came into view. There were throngs of street children and locals and my customary sprint created a massive roar from the crowd - what a finish. And it was all over.

Garmin of my race on Strava

The Six Challenges 

Six challenges attempted, four completed. I'd have taken that at the beginning, but always thought there was a chance of achieving them all. It was just disappointing to have finished with such a whimper, losing pace barely an eight of the way into the marathon. Given my stomach and the morning of chunder, I was happy enough with my time - 3.15 and pleased I hadn't given up. I have no idea what the temperature was, apparently less than last year, but the humidity was horrendous. Last year's winner was over fifteen minutes slower and the winner finished in 2.52, a pretty slow time for someone who ran 1.17 in the half last year. An indicator of just how humid it was.

The Podium - 1st International

On a different day sub three was probably possible, but even with the wind behind me I wouldn't have come third. The day ended with the podium, three uber fit Sierra Leonians taking their rightful place. I picked up the award for first international runner, a podium of sorts and my first proper trophy. It was a great end to a six month slog that thanks to you is looking like it is also going to end with a brand new school and the funding of a teacher for at least three years. Guess who gets to name it? :)

I give you 'The David Hellard School for Future Presidents!'  

  

Donate now - http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidHellard

If you enjoyed this post, please share on social media and subscribe to this blog in the top right of the page!!!

The Dirty weekend - the worlds biggest assault course.

Challenge 4  – Top ten in the world’s biggest assault course.  

Saturday was the Dirty Weekend, a 20 mile assault course with 200 obstacles including an 110 meter monkey bars. My challenge was to finish in the top ten overall based on time.  It was two weeks since my last race (the Questars weekender) and had a full taper for the race, although my last long run in Devon took in 1800 feet of ascent, a  lot more than I would want. I'd built up to 100 push ups and 25 pull ups per session and was in the best shape I've ever been for an adventure race.

With 5000 runners, we were split up into waves of 250. I started in wave two - fifteen minutes behind the leaders. Wave one typically is the fastest as no queuing, but my plan was that in wave two I’d get more help from other runners on obstacles, could see runners on the obstacle in advance to help me figure out the best technique and also I’d always have someone to chase after, to keep me running hard. That and it was £20 cheaper!

Most people assume these races are won by GI Joe types, but in reality the muscleheads are too heavy to get round the course quickly, most obstacles require fitness and a good power to weight ratio and as a result athletic runners tend to dominate. After a night being kept awake listening to the tent next to us playing a tedious game of ‘I have never’ into the early hours (who's never even had sex outdoors? really?) I woke up at 5.30 to eat some breakfast and made it to the start line for our 8.15am start. Rain was forecast, but the morning was bright - good race conditions.

A brief warm up by the rat race Timmy Mallet and we were off. Within the first hundred meters it became evident that only two of us were going to be competing for the wave two title. John, a friend of a friend, was running alongside and a brief chat confirmed that our half marathon times were pretty similar, given my previous three challenges I was worried about how quickly I’d tire and if he therefore had the advantage. We hit the first set of obstacles together – climbing through a car, over a six foot wall, through some tires and up and over a lorry and I’d managed to pull twenty meters ahead. He sped up to catch me and fairly soon we were into a large inflatable and then met by eight rugby players with training bags. The first two double teamed me surprisingly hard, then my Jason Robinson instincts kicked in and I even managed a hand off, before escaping the rest of the group. John has dropped right back and feeling confident that I'd stretch my lead on each set of obstacles I set about the task of reeling in wave one.

My legs already felt surprisingly heavy, the climbing was really draining and I could feel the hills from the previous week still in my glutes. Thankfully the course was very flat, so I kept up the leg turnover and pushed on. Over the next ten miles I picked my way through wave one - face down through mud, up in the trees of Ewok village and then we hit the main water section. It was brutal. We had several hundred meters wading through a waist-high mud based pond. Every step was incredibly sapping, so I developed a doggy paddle technique, pulling on the bottom, taking the weight off my legs and started accelerating through the pack.  Mud turned into open water swimming and then hauling yourself over children’s inflatables. Should be fun, but the holds were tiny and as a result you couldn't get your feet in them, so you had to pull yourself over four meter high obstacles using just upper body strength.  I'd packed nine nectar gels with me, which seemed excessive, but was trying to treat the race as a marathon, hoping for a similar finish time and it made a huge difference. I never stopped other than grabbing water and people started cramping up and dramatically slowing down. I’d made it up to thirtieth in the lead group and with the last ten miles mostly running, finishing top ten seemed a real possibility. I was barking at every steward 'how many ahead?', being a chaser felt great and every person I caught sped me on.

By 13 miles I was up to 11^th and everyone looked broken, using each obstacle as a chance to slow down and catch their breath. Our legs had been shredded crawling over jagged rocks in farmer Giles fields (some kind of razor blade farmer I assume) and with our upper body strength fading we were having to push a lot more on obstacles with our knees and shins to climb, resulting in further cuts and bruising. I developed a flying arse jump and seeing everyone else crumbling drew strength, took my proplus and sped up.

By Sherwood forest I could see 5th, 6th and 7th ahead of me and I was the only one still running hard. The finish was a ten meter wooden tower – I raced up it, applauded the crowd and then descended with my trademark cheesy grin. I’d made it up to fifth, despite their fifteen minute head start and ended up with the quickest time of the day – 2.51 kaboom!

Having the quickest time of the day, but not officially winning has led to some confusion among friends and competitors alike, so just to clarify - you needed to start in wave 1 to win. My time was quickest, but I'd received help on a few of the obstacles - most notably the large inflatables in the water, which saved me a considerable amount of time. If I'd have started in wave one I think I'd have probably finished third.

The best thing about starting a race at 8.15 is that you're done by 11 and there was nothing left to do other than head to the bar to drink 3000 calories worth of beer to try and achieve calorie neutrality for the day.

So next up the final two challenges at the Sierra Leone marathon - top 3 in sub 3. Don't think I stand a chance, but then again I didn't think I'd be heading there with a shot of a clean sweep. Prey for freak snow storms!

uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidHellard 

If you enjoyed this post, please share on social media and subscribe to this blog in the top right of the page!!!