Fundraising Event - Winter and Ice at Davenies School

On Friday 25^th March, Davenies School in Beaconsfield hosted and sponsored a Poetry Performance Night called, ‘Winter and Ice’. This was a culmination of a terms worth of work where thirty two boys from the very popular Nanook of the North club acted out a series of poems with a very special twist. These ranged from the old masters like Shakespeare to some contemporary poems by Benjamin Zephaniah. 

Following the show, was a post-performance cocktail hour where an array of culinary delights and drinks went on sale. The sushi, ‘Aurora Swish’ cocktail and blue champagne proved to be a big hit with the parents and the boys were treated to slush puppies, ice-cream, frappuchino’s and smoothies. Two huskies, Indie and Dexter joined us for the night and were understandably, the main stars of the show. The night was a phenomenal success, 140 tickets were sold with £1,053.00 pounds being raised for Wexham Special Care Baby Unit. This will take the total amount on our Just Giving site to £6860.00. 

A consultant from SCBU joined us and was deeply touched by everyone’s sincere generosity.  We were contacted by Pippa, the Unit Manager at SCBU and they have decided to purchase a Phototherapy Unit which helps premature babies with Jaundice and a Vapotherm Unit which helps with breathing. These will be dedicated to the memory of Ashley and Jessica and will help many other babies in the future. 

An article on the event will be available on Thursday 31^st March in the Beaconsfield Advertiser.

Great Run This Morning

Glorious sunshine great for a run. Managed 7.2 miles in just under an hour which was pretty good going for me. Especially as I tackled Marlow Hill at the beginning - killer!

If you're interested in the route follow the jump...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=206187645082467054333.00049ed516b578829e273&t=h&z=14

Webcam of where we will be ending up...

http://www.icehotel.com/uk/icehotel/webcam/

Training Going Well

How do you train for what we are going to do?

I'm not sure that this is the way...


My view is that we just have to get as fit as possible from a  cardio point of view. The challenge will be physically tough so the fitter we are the better equipped we will be to cope.

I have been doing a fair bit of running as we will have to run behind the sled at times mixed with other cardio such as swimming and cycling.

My running is coming along well and I took the opportunity last week to head out for an early morning run after a hard frost. The temperature was around -5 so perfect to test out some of my new base layer gear which kept me nice and toasty. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and I stopped to take a couple of pictures by the river in Marlow. I don't have any of those fancy gloves that work with a touch screen phone (yet) so had to take my gloves of for a picture. Big mistake. My hands did not warm up for the rest of the run so I hope you like the pictures and that they were worth the cold.

Thank You! Donations well over £5k!!!

A big thank you for all the support so far. We have gone past our initial target of £5,000 and have been overwhelmed at all your generosity!

We have been in touch with the SCBU who are extremely pleased at our progress.

Thanks again...

http://www.justgiving.com/Jacqueline-Newell

Is it wrong to want a pair of these trousers?

They just look SO warm!

Thank you - Collections at 85%

We really appreciate all the support and donations.

http://www.justgiving.com/Jacqueline-Newell

Check out the extensive kit list...

http://www.globaladventurechallenges.com/downloads/kitlistLapland.pdf

Brochure - Click the link for a breakdown of the trip...

http://www.globaladventurechallenges.com/downloads/brochureLapland.pdf

Training Day - Cannock Chase Forest

On Saturday we travelled up to Cannock Chase forest to be briefed on the upcoming Arctic trip. We met with some of our fellow mushers and the expedition guides that will accompany us in April.

After a presentation on what to expect during the trip we then were introduced to a couple of Huskies to practice setting up the harnesses and finally we were shown what kit we would be expected to take. Rather than detail out everything covered, I thought I would summarise some of the more interesting points covered:

General

It will be a tough challenge both mentally and physically but at the same time extremely rewarding. We are both now quite nervous about the trip but also very excited.

The Cold


It is going to get very cold! The lowest temperatures they have previously experienced is -36 C. We got many tips on what type of clothes to buy and how to dress to keep warm.


Camping will be Tough


By far the toughest part of the trip will be the camping. We will be in the middle of nowhere camping on snow and ice and the tents can get so cold in the night that the condensation from your breath turns to snow! Tips to keep warm include arctic sleeping bags with inner silk liners for extra warmth. We are recommended to sleep in thermals with balaclavas.


Going to the Toilet


Dig a whole and then be quick. You have to burn your toilet paper when you're done. Fabulous.


The Dogs


We will have our own pack of either five or six Husky's depending on the weight of our sled and will be responsible for feeding, harnessing and generally looking after them for the trip. The dogs are extremely powerful and can pull the sled at 20 km/h at pace or cruise at a more leisurely 10 km/h. We practised putting the harness on and the dogs just want to go and run.

Kit

Our kit list has now grown with more essentials including arctic sleeping bags, silk liners, thermos flasks, thermal clothes, balaclavas - I could go on...

2011 Adventure Challenge

Well 2011 is finally here and it is time to update you on the next challenge I have ahead of me. This will be the third such challenge after swimming the English Channel as a relay team and last year’s extreme triathlon.

The 2011 challenge will be quite different as I will be travelling to Norway on the 17th of April to start a 7 day husky sledding adventure which will cover 250km and end up at the ice hotel in Sweden. This challenge was the brainchild of my wife Jay who I am pleased to say will be accompanying me.

We can encounter temperatures as low as -30°C and will each be responsible for our own pack of six husky dogs that we will have to care for throughout the trip. Accommodation will consist of a tent as we will be camping out in the Arctic wilderness. This will most definitely be a no frills adventure.

The purpose of the trip will be to raise money for the Wexham Hospital Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) which is a charity that is extremely close to both myself and my wife's heart. In August 2010 our twin daughters Ashley and Jessica were born extremely prematurely and sadly passed away only days after birth. The SCBU unit cared for our daughters from birth and the level of care and supported offered was first class.

It was the first time that I had ever encountered such a place within a hospital and to be honest I was unaware  that places with this level of care even existed. The standard of care that our daughters received was exceptional as was the professionalism and compassion of the staff. The cost of the care and the associated equipment is eye wateringly expensive. Vital machinery, including incubators and ventilator equipment costs tens of thousands of pounds and the unit is limited by the amount of babies it can help by the number of machines and level of equipment it has on site.

Shortly after our experience we both decided that in order for our sad experience to have at least one positive outcome we would raise money for SCBU with the aim that the money raised would be put forward for new equipment in the hope that more vital machinery could be purchased and therefore more people helped.

The SCBU is not a place for the faint hearted but I fail to see how anybody who has ever walked into such a unit could not be emotionally touched by the great work that takes place there. You never know when you, fmaily or friends may need their vital services and skills and the money we raise will be utilised for more much needed equipment.

The entire cost of our trip has been self-funded meaning that every penny raised will go directly to the SCBU charity. All donations (no matter how small) will be received extremely gratefully. The link is below to our Just Giving page…

http://www.justgiving.com/Jacqueline-Newell.

Thanks for taking the time to read the above, I will be updating this page with regular updates on our training for the challenge and will try to send it round every few weeks If you want to check in with what we have been up to.

Thanks again for reading and your support

Chris and Jay

Local News...

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/localnews/marlow/8329013.Largest_lake_part_of__unique__triathlon_for_duo/

Day 3 - End of Cycle & Snowdon

Day 3 – End of Cycle and Snowdon

Up at 6:30am for the drive back to Ty Nant where we finished yesterday. We spotted a few marker points signalling the top of climbs and mentally noted these for the beginning of the ride.

Legs felt fresh though ankle still sore and needed looking after. Not too much out of the saddle stuff today.

It was just around 18 miles to Betws-y-Coed where we were to stop for a quick rest. The ride was a fairly steady uphill climb and with fresh legs we reached the top without really noticing we were climbing. What a good night’s sleep does for you!! There was then a nice long downhill winding ride into the village which we just enjoyed and let the bikes coast. A great feeling after al

l the climbing.

A five minute rest then onto the last 9 miles of the ride up to Pen y Pas and the bottom of Snowdon where the climb would begin.

This was tough exposed riding with a head wind and a steady climb. Slowly the nine miles ticked down and we reached the turn to Pen y Pas. I knew now that we had one more steep climb and then we would be done. One final push up the hill and we were there. Only Snowdon to go!

We ditched the bikes and got changed in the back of van ready to hit Snowdon. Plan was to go up the Pyg track and down the Miners as easier on the legs.

We made it up in under two hours and finally we were done after three days of hard physical graft! A quick dip in the icy cold lake at the bottom at the end helped refresh us after all the exertions!

This was a really tough challenge which looking back I enjoyed but definitely stretched us both physically and mentally. We swam 11 miles, cycled 176 miles, climbed nearly 11,000 feet on the bikes and then climbed Snowdon.

We are not yet quite there with the fund raising target so please, if you can, donate to the below site...

http://www.justgiving.com/pinnacle-3-peak-cycle-challenge

It is for a great cause! Thanks to those that have sponsored so far. It is appreciated.

Bike Stats - Day 3

Distance Cycled - 26.8 miles

Time in Saddle - 1hr 50 mins

Max Speed - 30mph

Avg Sod - 14.66mph

Feet Climbed - 1,751

Thank you’s.

Dad – for being a great support driver and motivator over the weekend

Jay –for putting up with all the training beforehand

Gill – we couldn’t have had a better guide on the Lake.

Day 2 - Cycling - All Day

The aim was to meet for breakfast at 6:30am. My phone rings. It is Dad. “Where are you?” It’s 6:45am and I am sleeping the sleep of the dead. Out of bed into shorts and a t-shirt and straight down to breakfast. Black coffee does the trick and a bacon sarnie. A quick shower and we’re ready to rock. On the road at 7:30am and feeling good.This is the day I wasn't looking forward to. We were aiming for 100 miles and there were going to be hills. The longest I have ever cycled is for 68 miles in one day so this was a bit of a step up. Still we were feeling good and for the first hour cruised along. No niggles from the day before. Happy days.Riding through the streets of Preston was pretty interesting.

The route was a bit more obvious today so Dad (as support driver) would go on ahead and we would leap frog him every so often. This gave him a few opportunities to take some action photos of us as we were doing our best Lance Armstrong impressions.On a bike you have enough time to take in your surrounding and it was great seeing the old mills that had been converted into offices and apartments. Weirdly, we kept noticing oddly named hairdressers; my favourite being "Off Yer Head". How cool is that for a name?

The route today was to head out South to Wigan then onto Manchester then Chester and out to Wales on the route to Snowdon.

Our satnav device had a few tricks up its sleeve today and infuriated us on a couple of occasions by taking us on the "scenic route". This basically involved turning off the road we were on to invariable be faced with a ludicrously steep climb followed by a rapid descent only to come out on the same road we were on a few hundred metres further up. Pointless. We soon realised we had to out think this machine that clearly had no appreciation for the fact that we didn't really enjoy riding up pointless hills. We quickly learnt to ignore future requests.

We had our first proper food stop at a great named cafe called "Butty Licious" around 30-40 miles into the ride. Still feeling good.

We were now heading out towards Manchester and still going strong aiming to go around another 30 miles before the next stop which was planned to be a late lunch. Heath decided to put the hammer down up ahead and we were rocketing along at 22-23mph on the flats for around 45 minutes. I'm pretty new to road biking but for me this was fast and was killing me. I shouted ahead for Heath to stop as I needed a five minute time out and a banana to catch my breath. I was pretty much done and not at all enjoying myself.

The next hour was a lot steadier and I was just ticking over trying to keep going. We were now in Wales and aiming for Penyfford for lunch. It couldn't come soon enough. The picture shows us just stopping at around 72 miles. I was nearly broken. Check out the grimace.

The pub was pretty good with great food. The only problem was that the landlord thought it was a good idea to have a parrot in there which was making an alarming racket. He thought it was an even better idea to walk around the pub with it on his shoulder like some modern day pirate. I would have throttled it if I had enough energy.

Lunch was a pretty quiet affair. I knew there were hills to come for the last 30 miles and we were steeling ourselves for the horrible grind we knew was ahead. My ankle was also starting to play up as I was getting pain in the achilles very time I pedalled. Not too much I could do but try and look after it as best as possible. All too soon it was time to get back in the saddle and we were off into the Welsh hills.

The hills did not disappoint and after lunch we faced a relentless climb for around an hour. The scenery was stunning and after a couple of false dawns we finally reached the top of the hill side. It was awesome to look around and not see anything higher for miles but then unbeliviably around the next corner there was more to go. It was just head down and keep grinding the legs. Finally we broke the back of it and meandered up and down on top of the hills for a while.

We were heading to the last stop of the day called Ty Nant and with one final evil climb we reached the top and cruised down jubilantly into the village centre. Our aim was to go 100 miles and we had said that we would crack on if we were under that distance. We checked our navigation and it said 100.6 miles. Yes! 100 miles cycled. Day 2 done.

Bikes into the van and into Betws-y-Coed 20 miles up the road to our hotel. Time for a couple of beers.

Ride Stats

Distance 100.6 miles

Time in saddle: 7hrs 33mins

Avg Moving Time: 13.2mph

Max Speed: 32mph

Feet Climbed: 5,929