We can only hope endurance is a disease and we catch it (even in a mild dose) from Arthur Puckrin!

I received a phone call from Arthur Puckrin tonight. For those of you who don't know (and where the hell have you been then?), Arthur is the god amongst men, who at 72 years old completed one of the hardest endurance challenges known to man (and a few Titans have failed as well), 'The World DOUBLE Decca Biathlon". This is nothing more than a 48mile swim and a . . . . . . .2240 mile bike ride, (I feel ill!).

Arthur ringing was like Superman turning up to a woman hanging off the side of a building by one arm - we are no longer shrieking with fear at the prospect of our two major endurance challenges, we are in good hands.

I had a million questions for Arthur who was more than happy to impart his knowledge and experience for both our bike and run projects. He is happy to be at the end of the batphone on standby for training and technique emergencies.

Over the course of our short but totally mind blowing conversation, he filled my head with loads of good ideas, things to watch out for, things I never even considered and amazed me with his willingness to support a bunch of strangers, once again in the name of such a great cause.

I will post a list of his main bits of advice, but food for thought; feet can swell so much that we may need to consider cutting the ends off a pair of trainers for the latter stages, Achilles tendons cannot really be trained but must be really protected on such long runs and any twinge must result in dead stod and walk for a while, the intensity of the run will allow for a wider range of nutrition including decent meals throughout, knees need to be protected and may need strapping up from the outset, and . . . . .it may not be necessary to train any more than 14 miles in any one session, but consider the endurance of time by completing up to 3 or four medium length sessions in one day, broke up with other activities.

I am inspired by our conversation and Arthur said we can contact him at any time for advice AND he is willing to get involved in a more active way as we get closer to our challenges and will be a guest of honour at the charity night when we complete our bike challenge, maybe giving out raffle prizes or making a short speech. 

Here's to Arthur Puckrin for taking HET seriously and making me feel like we are a proper team. Lets do this lads!

"I'll get my people to ring your people . . .we'll make it happen!"

11am today and Hartlepool Endurance Team was a bunch of Hartlepool athletes with loads of ideas, bags of enthusiasm and quite a high pain threshold. By 12pm this afternoon, we became a well organised, focused machine,  ready to start putting our ideas into reality.

I met with Victoria Rogers from 'The Butterwick', and like a corporate trouble shooter, she thrashed our pencil drawn sketches into a work of art. Amazing woman! So here's how it stands now.

1. We train like mad so we do not look like idiots when we set out on both our 24hr bike marathon or our 26.2hr ultra run.

2. We promote our backsides off for a small pot of money to pay for perishables, emergency kit, race clothing and nutrition by asking all our loved ones with businesses to slip a few quid in order to advertise on said kit and literature etc.

3. We tell everyone who will listen that they will be struck by the spirit of the Joo-Joo if they do not visit our just giving page and donate their spleen! (justgiving.com/hartlepool-endurance-team)

4. Direct them also to our blog to see how seriously we take ourselves and to learn a little more about us (team-hartlepool.blogspot.com). Simple profile and mission web page TBA.

5. We start to tell the world the following; On a date yet to be arranged in April/May, we HET will be setting off on a 24hr bike marathon starting with a 'Dark hours Bike Roller Session' at a venue (also yet to be arranged, but hopefully Springs). We will then set off at the first sign of daylight on a 12/14 hr sportive style pack riding road challenge and return to the venue as the sun sets, ( I will ask Mr Wilson and Mr Hackett for their supreme knowledge of road riding to be our guide and propose an interesting if a little challenging route). A Butterwick/Red Dreams charity night will have begun; a ticket do with food, raffle, band and disco to raise more funds to be split evenly between these two exceptional charities. We, (the riders - and this is the good bit!), continue our 24hr challenge at the centre of this charity night, pushed on by our loved ones, fed copious amounts of caffeine and red bull until we collapse in a head at a count down to midnight!!!

6. When all the details are finalised, we all try and sell as many tickets as possible to this do and with the help of the Butterwick publicity machine (Victoria has this one in the bag), we sell the lot easily - potentially 180. What better way to end a 24hr challenge when you are tired, in pain, sweaty and miserable - happy people drinking!

7. When I have collated a list of very useful contacts from Victoria, we each take a couple and follow up on to see if we can secure a little more support both financially and with various donations of equipment etc.

8. Offer any suggestion to improve on the above ideas.

I'll hold off on discussion propositions for the ultra run for a while to get our heads around this challenge first, suffice to say that we have a preliminary range of dates (July/Aug) and a proposed route (5 mile loop around Seaton), and once again, Victoria from Butterwick had some excellent suggestions to help it run smoothly and gain maximum exposure.

Officially excited by this part of the project. Please let me know what you think!

Potholes - Hartlepool Steals Crown From Blackburn Lancashire!

I knew that when I came up with this hair brained scheme, organisation was going to be and issue, and I'm sure that there will be much red tape and brick wall to surmount in the future! But Hartlepool Council haven't made things any easier already.

Whilst out today on reconnaissance for the Ultra Marathon loop with fellow HET member James Campbell, I was shocked at how unusable Hartlepool's streets are for runners.You could literally lose whole people down some of the pot holes in the pavement, fill some of the cracks with water and manoeuvre a barge freely along them and create a colour chart for a goths bedroom with the amount of mismatched and raised strips of tarmac due to the amount that has been dug up and relaid over the years!

So, Our 26.2mile loop that reduced to 13.1 to stop our runners from throwing themselves under late night freight lorries on the A689, has now diminished to a 5 to 6 mile loop around the best of paths and tracks around the Seaton area to avoid snapped ankles. It seemed to be the sensible thing to do anyway as we will be doing at least 40% of our running in the dark and with a smaller loop, support, aid and companionship will be much easier.

Big meeting with Butterwick tomorrow that I'm both excited for and dreading as I'm a soft get and don't want to get upset at the amazing things that go on over in Stockton.

PS. note to historians. you might want to check if the record books have any evidence of the following people visiting Hartlepool in their final days: Lord Lucan, Richie from the Manci Street Peachers and Glenn Miller. I'm  sure I heard Jive Bunny whilst riding down Catcote Rd!!!!!!

"Petrofac and Thistle" Say it again, it rolls off the tongue like sweet nectar!!

That's us off the ground. We now have to step up and earn the £300 donated by this multi national engineering company. One Mr P Stephenson has worked some magic and secured us our first major donation and will officially ride his little bike all the way to the bank to deposit this sum when he returns from his most recent exotic off shore adventure.

Crikey! This means it's real! No more procrastinating about nutrition plans, routes, conditioning and training . . .we've actually got to do the lot!

Joking aside. I am under no illusion as to the enormity of what we are planning, but I have ultimate faith in the team of lads to step up to the plate and do amazing things in the name of 'The Butterwick Hospice'. This is one thing I am excited about; my mates achieve more than they thought possible and immensely more than others think they are capable of.

It all starts now Hartlepool endurance Team . . . good luck and once again, massive thanks to Petrofac and Thistle!

The Generosity of Strangers

It always amazes me, the faith people have in you when you are trying to do something good. It's not true that humans are cynical and mistrusting by nature . . .they don't want to be! Hartlepool Endurance Team look like a rag bag bunch (on paper and in real life). Jimbo with his rugby players build and cropped hair, Darren with his tattoos and football shirt, Andy with his facial hair and Scouse accent and me . . . . well I look like I could kill you as soon as look at you (yer right!). Suppose there's only Bryan who you'd be happy to introduce to family  - I guess he'll have to be the face of H.E.T!!

Anyway! The point I'm trying to make is - before this bunch of misfits have even physically set foot on the path of ultra athletics, a multi national company is willing to contribute a substantial amount of money to the cause in the form of a donation direct to 'Butterwick' through our just giving page . . just on what little they know about us through a letter I drafted recently.

I must say a massive thanks to Paul 'Stevo' Stephenson for doing the ground work and hope that there are many other companies out there as generous as this. There name will be in lights when I find out what it is!!!

I love it when a plan comes together!!!

A new team has been born. Made up with a load of athletes as mad and passionate as me. Do something nuts like ride 176 miles in 11.25 hrs and they come out of the woodwork and sign up to the most unbelievably mad ventures . . .all in the name of charity!

So 'Hartlepool Endurance Team' is born and the members are growing. 2012 looks like an exciting year with an already expanding list of crazy events aimed at raising money for 'The Butterwick Children's Hospice'. So far we have pencilled in:

• A 24hr road bike challenge
• A 26.2hr Ultra marathon
• An endurance open water swim mimicking the channel crossing
• A full length Ironman trithlon
• Various triathlons and duathlons

So, I'll raise a glass for the team as they stand on this inaugural day; Darren, James, Andy, Bryan and myself who have committed to some of the events, and wish us all luck for the tribulations ahead.

We are the A - Team!!!!!

May we all stay safe, cement friendships, grow as people . . . and make a big difference in the lives of those less fortunate than us.