The Year of Madness…
In 2011 / 2012 Eddie Whittle and John McDonough embark on The Year of Madness and aim to raise £8,000 for fantastic charities with the a little help from their friends by completing 12 Crazy Challenges in just over 12 months. [See full list below]
They aim to raise £2000 for each of the following Charities:
Cardiac Risk in the Young
Sponsor here: http://www.justgiving.com/madness4cry
Action Medical Research
Sponsor here: http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/yearofmadness
Macmillan Cancer Support
Sponsor here: http://www.justgiving.com/madness4macmillan/
British Heart Foundation
Sponsor here: http://www.justgiving.com/madness4bhf
Whilst Eddie and John are happily doing all 12 events, they’ve decided to share the pain by inviting friends, fools and volunteers to join them on their quest on one or all of the events to help raise at least £2000 for each of their chosen charity listed above, £8000 in total.
Please use the links above to sponsor the teams or visit the website : http://www.madness4charity.co.uk/page2.htm or show your support by joining one of the teams for the following challenges.
The Year of Madness Challenges include:
One \\ Race the Sun - 4th September 2011 http://www.actionforcharity.co.uk/eventdetailsnew.asp/urlsearch/Race-the-Sun
Two \\ Yorkshire 3 Peaks Hike - Mid September 2011
Three \\ Coast to Coast Cycle - October 2011
Four \\ The Fred Whitton Cycle Challenge - May 2012 http://www.fredwhittonchallenge.org.uk/
Five \\ Manchester 10k Run - May 2012
Six \\ Tower to Tower Cycle (Blackpool to Paris) - June 2012
Seven \\ Great North Swim – June 2012
Eight \\ Lakeland 50 Hike / Run - July 2012 http://www.lakeland100.com/the-lakeland-50
Nine \\ The Pendle Predator - August 2012 Keeping it local with 175k on the bike! http://www.pendlepredator.co.uk/
Ten \\ Trail Magazine Lake District Hike – August 2012 (80 mile hike, over every Lakeland valley, taking in 13 Lakes over 5 / 6 days)
Eleven and…Twelve \\ Lands End to John O’Groats Cycle stopping off to run the Great North Run - Sept / Oct 2012
For more information about any of these challenges and tickets for the:
Year of Madness Charity Fundraiser Dinner Dance on Friday 22nd July 2011, At Mytton Fold, Langho, Blackburn. BB6 8AB
Please contact Eddie or John: yearofmadness@hotmail.co.uk
So what have I let myself in for …
Now whether it’s my mid-life crisis or some strange desire for pain and sleep deprivation, but I’ve “volunteered” to join the team for Challenge 8 of their “monu-mental” year of challenges.
Well, looking at the list of events, walking 50 miles through beautiful Lakeland Fells in less than 24 hours, yes you heard me correctly, is the least I could do. This is my small contribution to help these two crazy fools raise money, awareness and achieve their Charity targets for the next 12 months.
Please support Eddie, John, myself and all team players during this Year of Madness… http://www.madness4charity.co.uk/page5.htm
The Lakeland 50
http://www.lakeland100.com/the-lakeland-50
The Lakeland 50 is one the greatest ultra running and walking challenges in Europe, perhaps the world. It is run over the second half of the Lakeland 100 Ultra Tour of the Lake District, completing the final 50 miles of the 100 course. As it’s only half of the Lakeland 100 course it’s the easy option.. right? That’s the first and worst error anyone could possibly make.
It’s a fact that 60-70% of the 100 mile competitors don’t finish the course, 80-90% of those drop out prior to or ‘at’ half way. Many great ultra runners have started the 100 course and found it just too difficult, too demanding, half of the course was ‘enough’. The Lakeland 50 is ‘half of the course’, it’s almost double the distance of a marathon, it’s on rough terrain and there’s approximately 3100m of ascent to deal with. The Lakeland 50 is a huge challenge, it requires commitment, drive and the ability to ‘just keep going’ when most folk would ‘just rather not’.
The route starts from the Northern end of Ullswater within the grand Dalemain Estate before following the Eastern shore line as far as Howtown. A quick climb and descent followed by a trek along the banks of Haweswater sees you at Mardale Head. The route from here visits Long Sleddale, Kentmere, Ambleside, Langdale and Tilberthwaite before the final climb and descent to the finish at Coniston. It is a truly amazing route and we will visit places usually ignored by the masses…probably for good reason!
The time limit for the Lakeland 50 event is 24 hours which makes it achievable by both runners and walkers. Each year they have a huge range of people complete the event for a huge range of personal reasons. At the front end are elite mountain runners who race ‘neck and neck’ to complete the course in 8 hours or less….at the opposite end we have the walkers (Yes that’s Eddie, John & Myself) who will push ourselves through the night to complete comfortably within the event time limit, the key to success is to ‘keep moving towards Coniston’.
To complete the event we must be well prepared (!!) and be able to navigate successfully (…is there an App for that? ). Experience of fell walking or running is a necessity for all competitors and the challenge should not be underestimated. In 2010 a total of 350 competitors took up the challenge and the organising team watched in amazement as a mixture of runners and hill walkers battled personal challenges to complete the event within the given time limit. There is nothing ‘easy’ about the Lakeland 50 no matter how well we prepare, but ‘easy’ and ‘achievement’ are rarely part of the same sentence.
The harder it is, the greater the difficulties, the better that medal will feel.
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