A team of charitable triathletes narrowly missed out on smashing a gruelling world record last weekend – but managed to raise thousands of pounds for a brain tumour charity in the process.
Dave Coard and five athletes from his Boxfit triathlon club – Jeanette Walster, Nathan Scott, Tara Kirkham, Dave Bailey and Adam Laycock – completed the Enduroman Arch to Arc challenge in an impressive 39 hours and 35 minutes despite being battered around in the English Channel by the tail end of a tropical storm.
The group are still counting up their fundraising tally in aid of the Samantha Dickson Trust but have so far raised well over £10,000 for the efforts – which saw them run from Marble Arch in London to Dover, swim the English Channel to France and then cycle from the French coast to the Arc du Triomphe in Paris.
Dave told the H&P: “It was an unbelieveable experience and one that none of us will ever forget. We flew through the run but hit a storm two miles into the swim, we were getting thrown up and down by the waves but we made it to France. The captain said if the storm hit earlier then he wouldn’t have taken us out. Even though we got battered about we still got a good time considering.”
The team smashed the record for the cycle leg of the challenge but fell short of the overall world record of just under 36 hours – finishing as a group cycling up the Champs Elysee.
Dave said: “I actually had tears in my eyes finishing, it was so emotional.”
The group are raising funds for the Samantha Dickson trust on behalf of Luton lad Ben Reep who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in his first year of school.
To sponsor Dave and the team, log onto https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/boxfit6.