As for the other triathlon disciplines well I’ve been following a programme from Peter and so far all is good. I’ve still not gotten used to the pedal/clip things on the road bike so a few of my spins have involved keeling over when I couldn’t get my feet out of the pedals!

I’ll keep you posted about how it’s going……I think the reason I’m not saying too much is nerves (and fear of failure)!!

-Aisling-

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Yeh, my knee doesn’t do that either. An amazing, photo sequence pointed to by The Mountain World blog. You can see the entire sequence here.

17yr old Pete Whittaker with mother and father on belay duty, and sister Katy watching on has created a stunning set of photos from the first accent of E9 Dynamics of Change on grit in the UK.

You need to go and read Hot Aches Productions account and photos…

From here, miles above his gear, he then swings a heel up between his hands, and gradually rocks over on it. Rocks over on it. How? But somehow he was managing to. What remains ahead from this point is the final crux section of Brail Trail, but without any of the gear. Effectively soloing from this point.

And yes, the exposure really was massive… unreal!

Good man Pete!

-Robin.

We have some Irish hill runners heading up north for the annual Knockdhu run. (I’ve done this once and said “Never Again”!!) The Irish team includes: Aoife Joyce (Crusaders, Captain), my clubmate Karen Duggan (Clonliffe), Peter O’Farrell (Rathfarnham, Captain), Ross Alexander (Coolquill), Colm Mullen (Sli Cualann). I remember being stood on the start line (think it was 2005?) as Paul Nolan described the course to the Irish team. It all meant very little to me so I thought it simpler to ask “How many Ups?” “Four” he said. As I climbed about my 7th “up” I realised that some people’s version of a hill differs from others…. ;-)
Well done on a great run on Wednesday night Paul!

And on the IMRA forum there’s a post by Peter O’ Farrel about some races up North in the Hill and Dales series on Thursday evenings in the Mourne mountains. Might be worth a trip to try out some new hills…. Enjoy your weekend!

-Aisling-

Image is of last year’s Irish team at Knockdhu.

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Bearded Git (BG) emailed me looking for ‘airtime’ for the Legalise Wild Camping in Wales & England campaign - just like they can in Scotland.

They are looking to gather as many signatories as possible from UK Residents or Expats on the 10 Downing Street website petition. Sign it if you agree (and can).

There are lots of possibles they are looking at:

A card or licence system (like a rod licence for angling) has been proposed in some quarters. I think this has some merit and is worth examination.

Those that enjoy the rights of access should see this as a privilege rather than an inviolable right to used however they deem fit. After all it is someone else’s land! The concept of a privilege that can be withdrawn if certain codes of behaviour cannot be adhered to seems to me to be a good way forward.

BG has got lots of opinions on his blog too.

Further resources: http://www.legalisewildcamping.com/

I welcome debate in the comments section - hopefully BG or John will chip in too.

-Robin.

This has to be one of the toughest Marathon tests in the UK. Night Day Marathon offers two off-road marathon races over the same course within a one day period.

Then there’s the Tough Challenge Wendover Woods Marathon (Buckinghamshire 16th March): get this: twenty laps of a 1 mile circuit with over 6000ft of ascent/ descent!!
From Runners World:

Its exhausting one-mile circuit takes in copious amounts of mud, water and stony terrain, as well as an incline that has been known to reduce even the toughest of runners to an undignified scrabble. No wonder then that completing upwards of 20 loops - totalling around 6,000ft of ascent and descent - over the full marathon distance poses a punishing physical and mental challenge.

Jaysus.

-Aisling-

Image is from Runners World of the Wendover Woods Marathon.

SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - Remember Tough Guy last year?

Over 4,000 people brave mud, ice cold water, and flames to prove that they are tough. The Tough Guy race in the west of England, takes place over a two-mile long obstacle course designed by a former Grenadier Guardsman. Competitors must wade through energy-sapping mud, negotiate flames, smoke bombs and taunting marshalls.

Well, Reuters have posted an excellent Slideshow of this years event.

Last year I said I’d do it this year. Maybe next year!

-Robin-

(Image Credit: Reuters Tough Guy Slideshow by REUTERS/Darren Staples)

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Here’s some more of these flying maniacs in wingsuits, this guy is known as “The Dude” (full post coming tomorrow on landing without a parachute (thanks to reader tipoff). These videos are incredible. Absolutely incredible.

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Follow Tango & Cash the NI MTB Boys in their latest adventure, To Err-igal is Human.

The mighty Mount Errigal, County Donegal. Basically a big 750-metre-high wobbly peat trifle with granite crushed nuts on top. We always wanted to have a crack at it on/with the bikes, so we departed Antrim at 5:40am on Saturday 15 December 2007, to climb the mountain.

We knew it was a carry to the top, so we padded the top- and down-tubes with pipe lagging from B&Q. It’s a good idea if you are going to be carrying for a long period.

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MS “Beluga SkySails” is the worlds first tanker to be towed by kite. The kite is 160m sq.

Ship christening of the worldwide first cargo ship with SkySails-System took place at the Hamburger Landungsbrücken/Überseebrücke on December 15th, 2007 – Milestone regarding the use of environmentally sound propulsion technologies at sea.

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The Kandersteg Ice Climbing Festival starts tonight in Switzerland. Love that event. Above is one of my photos from 2004 when I watched Ines Papart win first place.

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How not to launch an RNLI lifeboat from the beach. The on-shore wind blew this English crew back onto the beach, for a minute it looks like they weren’t going to get away. Massive seas. Watch this video. (Thanks diverman).

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All climbing have a great video of Will Gadd ice climbing icebergs from waterlevel. Massive icebergs too! Iceberg-oldering anyone?

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Adventure Race World Series has been announced in Ireland for June 14-21 2008. Location is South West and more details are available from Jan 11th.

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-Robin-

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Geared Up Blog) - Ranulph Fiennes is returning to Everest once again. He will be attempting the peak for the third time next yeah with the same guide, Kenton Cool, he climbed the North Face of the Eiger early this year. He will also have with him Dr Rob Casserley who is a medic and a high altitude camera man. The last time he attempted to climb the mountain, in 2005, he approached from the North side and got to within 1,000 feet of the summit. I wonder what sort of film is going to be made by the explorer? He is raising funds for the Marie Curie Cancer fund once again with £3million his target!

-Eoinod-

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - It’s a bit of a Top Gear day today, isn’t it! Here’s the video of Jeremy Clarkson in a Land Rover racing Rock Climber Paul McCartney up the indoor climbing wall at the MPH 07 show. We let you know this was happening last weekend. Sarunas (DCURCC) sent us the videos today! Cheers!

Looks like the climber fell off every hour!

-Robin-

The stunning true story of the fateful voyage of an amateur yachtsman who in 1968 enters the very first solo, non-stop, round-the-world boat race.

I’ve read about this story in Chris Bonnington’s ‘The Quest For Adventure’, a fantastic book I reviewed back in 2005.

It recounts the true, tragic story of Donald Crowhurst, an amateur sailor drawn dangerously out of his depth when he signed up for a sailing competition for the first ever single-handed circumnavigation of the globe. Not able to take the strain, Donald lies about his position in his logbooks and circles off the coast of South America for several months with the plan to re-join the race when the rest came back up the Atlantic and claim he’d also completed the trip. It’s a strategy that drives him slowly mad before he commits suicide by jumping overboard, by memory, leaving the boat on course for the finish.

Compassionate, tragic, troubling; this extraordinary documentary recounts one of the sailing community’s legendary stories.

Right now I’m currently watching “The Gadget Show” on ‘Five’ (UK) which is reviewing rugged camera, testing them in helicopters in Iceland over steamy volcanoes for vibration, easy of use in gloves, screen brightness & temperature capabilities.

-Robin-

(Image Credit: Front Cover of “Quest for Adventure” Book by the Author)