Respectful

Without getting political about access rights to land, erosion of popular routes or charities using the three peaks far too much.
As I have stated before we are highly sensitive to the environmental impact our challenge could make, we are doing everything possible to reduce our event logistics and resources.

There are many responsible walkers and hikers that visit all the peaks we hope to climb every year.

Both Bryn and I agree that the 3-Peaks Challenge is not quite a route we wanted our event to follow. Yes we have to travel to the mountains and peaks [as do we all], but we’ll be camping, enjoying the surroundings, pacing ourselves so we can take as many pictures, videos and enjoy the locations we’ll be in. We intend to make sure local park authorities advice and guidance is sought before our event takes place to be sure we adhere to any changes in mountain access restrictions.

We'll have all the equipment and training to make sure we are responsible, worthy and respectful of all our actions.
The rules are pretty random if you wonder around the internet with regards to individual 3-Peaks events, the routes are usually either 24 hours or three days and participation numbers vary greatly from well organised events to individual un-sponsored groups.
Any rubbish that came with us...comes back with us! We also have our own toilet facility in the vehicle [ok, sounds glamorous it's just a camping porta-loo] if we need it ;-)

In the coming months we'll be training all over the UK, taking part in cross country events, half marathons and marathons - because we truly love the outdoors. We are also considering cancelling the Guinness Record challenge just incase it gives out mixed signals, we'll up date that point soon.

Some people have asked us "what are we doing for the local economy, why should we support you?". Two main reason, we have and will continue visiting, shopping, eating in local resturants and enjoying all the national parks, hopefully for many years to come. Secondly the charities we have picked work tirelessly with people all over the UK, to improve their lives or aid their suffering.

Further reading:
http://www.ukeverestchallenge.com/low_impact.html

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Merry in-excesses

Christmas, ahh a time of peace, family, gifts, friends and HUGE excesses!
I scrapped through...just.

Undertaking the UKEC'09 event was a rather large commitment in its own right. To move over rough ground at pace and running up hills, hiking in the dark are all made possible only with our growing fitness. All of that can be pushed back with far too much drink and food at Xmas.

We are stepping up our training once again in January, I had to REALLY resist many normal seasonal joys. I dropped a meal on Christmas day to only eat two main meals, I drank less this year as my body was effected faster, which thankfully meant I started drinking more water earlier on both Christmas and Boxing day.

I'm also finding people are understanding the commitments we are under. Instead of labeling us 'boring old farts', they are starting to understand that we can't just stop what we are doing. The toughest test is yet to come with new year.

I intend to have some fun, but quietly set myself a limit and stick to it. - Darren

Merry Christmas and keep on moving!

What a great end of year, supporters, sponsors and our charities all helping us push our event, train harder and that makes us smile.
No training today, Bryn and I will with family commitments will connect up in about 8 days time. We'll be looking after own fitness over the Xmas period. I hit the trail yesterday with a rather cheeky 7:30am run around Haytor and the valley's behind the quarries. The route normally takes at best in the mud and sharp climbs 58mins. It felt great to dig in the hills and come in nicely at 55mins, shaving a small slice of time off.

Well look at me, I got presents to open, so you all have a great festive season and we'll be back with more fundraising, hiking and running news shortly.

Thank you all for supporting us, Merry Christmas. - Darren

Southampton Solent University VO2 Testing

Some amongst us think you know I'll go running because I'm fat/ unfit/ need a challenge... We take up this sport and we run our first mile then 10 kilometres, then a half marathon. Some of us achieve the ultimate and run a marathon, what a day and what a feeling when you get to that one. Our friends and colleagues make comments like oh yeah your fit because you run, with slight embarrassment we agree. The big Question is are we fit?
Whilst we are planing our little event, we thought it best to set ourselves challenges along the way so that we could measure our fitness against others.

A chance conversation between Darren & Dr Stewart Brucelow a Sport Scientist and the Laboratory Director and a Senior Lecturer at Southampton Solent University, brought up the subject VO2 testing. Dr Stewart Brucelow offered us the chance to be asessed, tested, prodded and poked all in the name of science. The aim was to get an honest scientific opinion of how we fit we where. We thought this would be an added wake up call and some thing to train against.

The day commenced with a drive to Southampton from our beloved Devon, we arrived around midday, we met Stewart who took us to his Laboratory and introduced us to four of his Year two Students and Senior Laboratory Technician. Over the next four to five hours we signed disclosures in case we died!!! blew in things pushed things, ran on things, whilst Stewart and his colleagues measured us observed us and took notes after notes, rubbing their chins...

We completed a test that measured the capacity of our lungs, the strength of our lungs. They then tested our back strength for carrying twenty five kilogram rucksacks whilst running. Stewart measured all our fat bits all over with sighs and concerned grunts, slightly disconcerting to say the least. The students got us running whilst stabbing our fingers to measure our lactic acid, whilst breathing through a huge hose to take readings of the carbon dioxide we where blowing out I think, added to the fact we had to point at a chart describing how hard we thought it was, had to be the oddest of experiences.
All in all a very good day, strangely tiring yet very, very interesting. We are still waiting to hear the results I'm hoping that they are not quite as bad as we think they are going to be...please let the miles and hours of suffering have been for something...
Bryn
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UK Everest Challenge 2009 Event Launched.

Action packed duo undertake large UK endurance event, they plan to run, hike and crawl their way over TEN of, N.Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England's most rugged, highest and dangerous peaks. In a mad dash of blisters in August 2009.

December 22nd, 2008 - UKEC'09 is a compact, dedicated and non-profit event team aiming to complete their goal within a short four or five days. You can visit our fundraising site at www.ukeverestchallenge.com, read why they are doing the event in detail and get some background on us.

Proudly fundraising and fully backed by the following beneficiary charities;


• Help for Heroes [2 out of the 3 guys in the team are ex-marines]

• Children with Leukaemia [ Team member Bryn Posey father died of Leukaemia]

• National Association of Crohn's & Colitis Disease [ Team member Darren Edwards has been diagnosed with Colitis/Crohn's]

• Skill Force Development Charity [Bryn works for this charity]



UKEC founder Darren Edwards states "I think I've been an incredibly selfish individual all of my life thus far, and now I think it's time to give something back! It sounds so exceptionally cliché, but I do think Karma goes around and comes around [maybe I've watched too many My Name is Earl episodes?].

We lead our lives at almost break neck speed, deep in daily grind we rarely stop to see the pain of others, unless of course it happens to us first. A child with cancer, a person in pain and soldier crippled. It means so very little to us, apart from a fleeting emotion, it's just the news after all".



Team member Bryn Posey's reasons for signing up are quite clear "I lost my father to leukaemia back in 1999 and for many years didn't dwell on it and pushed it to the back of my mind, locking it away. In 2006 I realised I had spent a lot of time focusing on my life and on my personal achievements. I was not really sure where or what I was doing with my life.

On new years eve 2007 I made a resolution to do something for someone else, that in no way benefited myself (directly). Since then I have run the London Marathon for Children with Leukaemia [dressed I might add as Mr. Tickle!].

At the end of that race I was so elated and realised I had made a difference; yet I realised I could do so much more, this is my motivation".



Onboard this month we have several new sponsors; Montane, Southampton Solent University, South Devon College, Hilly Clothing, Bush Gear and Hydrate for Health. Now we are looking for national and regional media and news wires like yourself to pick up on the story, so we can gain extra sponsorship and ultimately and more importantly a huge reward for our charities.



About UKEC:
Newly formed non-profit endurance race team fundraising for UK charities. Four charities every year for the next four years will benefit, as the events get longer and more challenging. UKEC is based in the South West of England, with three team members, two runners and one support/logistics member. Training and take part in events all over the UK.


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Router, High Willhays & Yes Tor....

A nice jaunt up a hill and round the corner was as Darren described it. Straight out the back of Okehampton, just past the Royal Marines Battle Camp.

We're trying to up the training now road running and gym sessions during the week, and at weekends it's hiking session on the Saturday, then a trail runing session on the Sunday. It has been going well. So we decided to turn it up a notch. The highest hills on Dartmoor are Yes Tor and High Willhays nice at around 620 metres with a nice saddle between the two.

It took us about an hour and a half as we decided to take the slightly longer circumnavigation route on the way home.

As always we keep seeing steeper hills and strangely we hear ourselves saying I want to go up there, shall we do that next week??

Loving the training days

Bryn

Web update

The main event website has had some tweaks. If you pop along to www.ukeverestchallenge.com - you'll see sponsors logo's added, both Bryn & my sections now have pictures that expand, links updates and donations page is slowly getting updated. Plus the first edition of the newsletter has been added to the front page.

Fast'n'ard

BIG week for Bryn and myself as we are off to Southampton Solent University, where laboratory Director & Senior lecturer Dr Stewart Bruce-Low, a BASES accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist and his students are quite possibly going to make one off us pass out and the other one throw up!

His words not mine: "We will look to undertake body composition (pinching your fat bits), VO2 max and lactate threshold tests. These final two tests will be undertaken simultaneously. I should warn you that these tests (not the body comp) are maximal in nature and suggest you do not train the day prior to this. This means we run you to the point where you either give up (test of mental strength too) or ideally to the point where your legs just give out. Hoorah... I love my job!!"

I think we can safely assume the good doctor loves his job.

We are looking forward to having a benchmark now and further testing closer to the event. At the moment it's a mix of excitement, apprehension and butterflies being chased by bears in my gut right now.
Darren

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THE GREAT £1 CHALLENGE

SMALL DONATION = BIG HEART!

£1, sounds quite a small doesn't it? Loose change or something you would noramally find behind the sofa cushions? WE WANT YOUR £1 COINS NOW!! If every person that visits this blog and our main site donated a just single £1 coin, we could have reached our target and much more already. We hit nearly 600 hits a day last week, and excellent result BUT imagine if we could converted all that traffic in to money for our charities? Even just a third of the people that visited our main site, donated we would have smashed our £8,848.

I hope people visiting this blog and our site remember this is fundraising event, not just a endurance challenge, so please we need support for all our charities.

THREE WAYS TO DONATE

1 - Go to our individual Bryn or Darren pages and donate with our EVERYCLICK link.

2 - Donate with our PAYPAL button that's on EVERY page on our site

3 - Send £1 in an envelope, taped to a bit of card or with a letter to:

UK EVEREST CHALLENGE

PO BOX 665

EXETER

EX1 9LF

A Change of Track

Our training has been going well, to ensure that we don't get stale we like to mix it up a little, this has meant reversing routes praying for different weather conditions and planning for days away to our target peaks and mountains. Realising that our next eight months or so are going to get harder and harder we are now break ourselves in with a nice hike and then a short snappy run the following day. We decided on Saturday 6th, to take a hike up Cosdon Hill all one thousand eight hundred feet or five hundred and fifty metres Cosdon beacon domintaes the North East Corner of Dartmoor with fantastic views;

http://www.phototropic.co.uk/landscapeleaps/dartmoor_panoramic_photography/pano-Cosdon_Hill_-_Dartmoor

We managed a rather nice circular walk of about six miles in about two and a half hours. Not bad going as it was new ground [slightly soggy] and navigating on the move as we jogged up the tor. We are trying to ensure that we stick to main tracks and public bridal ways to do our best to limit our damage to the moor. I manage to navigate us to a ford in the river Taw just below Belstone Tor

http://www.phototropic.co.uk/landscapeleaps/dartmoor_panoramic_photography/pano-Cosdon_Hill_-_Dartmoor#show-Belstone_Tor_-_Dartmoor

Lightly jogging we stopped for a pause and negotiate a difficult river crossing at a spot called Sheeps fold. Once across we took the track back towards Cosdon hill and home.

Not a bad day and as added bonus we found Highwillhays Tor, now I thought I had been up and down nearly every hill on Dartmoor including Yes Tor which is six hundred and nineteen metres. I've either forgotten or my mind has chosen to block out the experience. So we've found our planned hike for next weekend...

Bryn
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A rock and a hard place

When people find out we are doing the UK Everest Challenge, they quite quickly make a split decision whether they approve or disapprove of our cause. The running groups state we’re hikers, walking groups bark we’re runners, friends of the environment [which we are] say they can’t support us because of the green issue of our event? I might add the same guy that stated we’re not green enough also went to Everest base camp and taken part in the Three Peaks challenge, let alone trips to the USA for hiking and drove from coast to coast - a bit of calling the kettle black I feel. The funniest email was from a camper, or rather a guy with a caravan, lives in Dorset and travels to Scotland regularly towing his beast. We'll be in tents on our challenge taking it all in.

Both Bryn and myself have approached this event carefully, car share at every opportunity, train locally to reduce travel. Use more expensive 100% recycled paper and envelopes for letters, 80% of our mailings are via email - less effective but less waste, refill our laser toner cartridges, all the tech is low power consumption, the list goes on and on.

Yes we'll be traveling around the UK and we're looking at ways to use public links where practical. Also trying to off-set some of our carbon footprint by signing up to tree planting.

We certainly appreciate all of the national parks with their unique rights of ways and follow the country code. When we are out training either walking, hiking or running, it's like being kids in a candy shop. Stopping to take pictures and taking in the views, there's something to see even in the pouring rain. We love it!

So to all the haters and people who are on the fence finding excuses, please donate a £1 for our charities and wish us well, we'll remember to shut gates, clean up after ourselves and will be on a hill near you every week no matter what the weather, enjoying - like you the great outdoors. - Darren
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