The Aspire Iron Man On Wednesday 6th October, 3 teams took part in the inaugural Aspire Iron Man Challenge. The teams, from Dorel UK and Lloyds TSB Corporate Banking division, swam, cycled and ran, all without leaving the Aspire National Training Centre and grounds.

The day began with a 2.4 mile swim in the pool, with each team needing to swim 154 lengths between them. Team strategies varied, with 2 teams swimming 10 lengths at a time with the other opting to each swim their lengths in one go. During each lap, the rest of the team were poolside, encouraging and cheering them on. For some the achievement was even more remarkable as they had not swum lengths since they were at school!

Next it was on to the Sports Hall. The cycling discipline took place on exercise bikes (kindly donated for the day by RFE International) and involved each team completing an incredible 112 miles. While 2 team members started cycling, the others began the run. Competitors had different ways of coping with the cycling, we had a ‘dancing’ cyclist whilst someone else chose to zone out by reading!

The run started and finished in the Sports Hall which meant there was always a big cheer when the runners completed a lap. Twenty six laps of a course around the grounds proved to be a challenge – the hills do not seem that steep in a car! However, everyone had plenty of support and encouragement from Aspire’s fundraising team who kept everyone going with energy drinks and jelly babies.

There was a great atmosphere and a lot of friendly rivalry between the teams. At the end of the day, the competitors were given a guided tour of Aspire to see how the very hard earned money they had raised would be put to use.

At the conclusion of the event, the competitors tucked into a well earned buffet and were awarded their medals by Aspire’s Chief Executive, Brian Carlin. As two teams were unable to compete due to injury, the trophy presentation has been delayed until they have completed the challenge next month, but the team to beat is Dorel 2 with an amazing combined time of 11hours, 35 minutes and 47 seconds.

Thank you to everyone who took part and we look forward to seeing you all again next year!

If you are interested in entering a team next year, get in touch with Hannah on email or call 020 8420 6731.