In April 2019, just six months after climbing Kilimanjaro in October 2018, I’m going to be teaming up with a host of incredible people to raise well over £200,000 for children with disabilities and disadvantages across the UK & Ireland.

We’re not just climbing Everest – we’re attempting to set two World Records along the way as we take on the LMAX Exchange Everest Rugby Challenge: the world’s highest rugby match and the world’s highest ever tag rugby match!

Alongside me as team captains will be former England scrum-half Andy Gomarsall, Welsh wizard Shane Williams and Tamara Taylor, who has well over 100 caps for England.

It will be an unbelievable adventure and there are still places left on the trip, so if you fancy joining us get involved and book your place today.

Could your team benefit from hearing the most inspirational speaker in the city? Get in touch with Ollie at Optimist Performance today!

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From the moment I arrived in the country it was clear this was not going to be a normal week. The place just immediately brings to life all of your senses. My initial thoughts were filled with nerves and trepidation. It was the first time that I had been to Sierra Leone, a country that had such an infamous reputation for being dangerous, war-ravaged and desolate, so I was nervous to say the least and nervous about the challenge that lay ahead.

I was in the country to run the Sierra Leone Marathon in aid of Street Child, a charity which believes that basic education is the single greatest step that can be taken towards the elimination of global poverty. Since 2008, they have helped over 200,000 children go to school and have supported over 15,000 families set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children long-term. It is a charity whose message I believe in vehemently and who I was delighted to be supporting during my time in Makeni.

Ever since meeting the founder, Tom Dannatt, and the head of fundraising, Chloe Brett, I’d wanted to get involved with Street Child and meeting people on the ground only served to strengthen my resolve that this was a wonderful cause.

Visiting some of the schools that Street Child had help build and seeing the smiles on all of the kids faces was an incredible experience. Their unbridled joy and enthusiasm towards school, towards learning and also towards us was infectious and amazing to see. I can remember taking part in a class and the room was filled with positive energy, huge smiles and continual song and I couldn’t help but sit back and marvel at what had been created in this magical place. And despite all of the hardship and all of the atrocities that some of these children had witnessed in their lives, they still managed to approach life with incredible energy and positivity.

In light of what these kids have lived through, and go through on a daily basis, 26 miles was a small sacrifice on my part and of course I’d put in the miles back in the UK, pounding the roads for months in preparation. I’d even bought the best running shoes I could find the OnCloud Cloudflow [link]. It was the first time I’d ever attempted running since my career-ending injury and I wasn’t sure how my nerve would hold up, but the OnCloud shoes certainly helped mitigate some of the issues that I typically suffer when running.

In reality, though, nothing prepares you for that race, which I’d still recommend to anyone. First of all, visually the route is awe-inspiring, from Makeni’s famous Wusum Hill stadium through the rural villages and tropical tracks through some of the most beautiful scenery in Northern Sierra Leone, a place totally alien to me, and the race definitely has the “electric atmosphere” that the event hosts advertise.

Having said that, there is no way you can replicate the 30-degree heat and the humidity you face. It was right up there with the toughest things I’ve ever taken on physically.

Not that the local kids seemed to mind – they skipped along with me all the way shouting and screaming and generally taking it all in their stride!

It was a fantastic thing to do and I was absolutely thrilled that we, a group of 118 runners, managed to raise in excess of £220,000 for Street Child – funds which are still to this day going towards building new schools and helping ensure that the children of Sierra Leone and beyond receive the education and support they deserve.

Please take a moment to watch the video and get in touch and if you fancy joining me on one of my next life-changing charity adventures.

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Why? Because it was almost surgically attached to me for 3,000 miles across America, from California to Maryland on one of the most incredible team challenges I’ve embarked on.

You can look at a map, you can plot the course and do the training but when it comes down to it there’s nothing that can prepare you for crossing 12 American states in eight days, and climbing 175,000 feet of hill road along the way. But that’s why the RAAM, or Race Across America, is like no other race in the world.

To give you a bit of background on the cycle, the route travels west to east and is simply breathtaking. Along the way you cross the Sierra, Rocky and Appalachian mountain ranges, the Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers and the Great Plains, as well as the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts…..how’s that for a bucket list!

I was part of the incredible ‘Antonia’s Friends’ team made up of me, my fiancee Lucy, my boss Barry, former Wales backrower Alix Popham and another 17 fantastic human beings who came away on the trip as riders, drivers, cooks, navigators and general motivators.

For 36 years RAAM has been pushing ultra-cyclists to and past their limits, raising millions for charity. We were cycling for Asthma UK and a young girl Antonia Thomas, a bright, funny, beautiful, energetic girl who had been diagnosed with mild asthma, yet tragically died from an asthma attack in under 10 minutes at the tender age of 10. Raising awareness about the dangers of asthma and how you can manage it correctly and appropriately was something that I was passionate about and felt very strongly committed to, and it certainly motivated me and drove me through some of the dark moments during RAAM.

Over the course of the race every one of us experienced moments of doubt, extreme physical pain and emotional suffering.

Ultimately, though, we also felt exhilaration, redemption and massive reward. As a relay team reliant on each other, the race really is the true test of speed, endurance, strength and above all camaraderie.

I think the best thing about it all was the collective efforts of the whole team involved. Yes there were eight cyclists and we had to work hard on the road, but the support crew were just incredible. For example, having a resident chef that was ready and waiting with some of the most fantastic food you’ve tasted as soon as you finished riding was amazing, even more miraculous was the fact that it was cooked up on the side of the road! Then there was our onboard navigator/team leader coordinating our every move. The general set-up and how well it worked was testament to everyone’s hard work.

You might think that a support crew of 12 and the eight riders all cooped up and travelling across the United States together would be a recipe for disaster, but it was successfully the best experience I’ve had and the most enjoyable team to be a part of.

I would recommend the race to anyone as long as you’re willing to put in the hard yards to prepare. Although I might not have looked it at times, at 33 I was the youngest on our team with Richard the oldest at 63 and everyone got so much out of it.

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The post The Art of Self-Challenge: Race Across America (RAAM) appeared first on Optimist Performance.