Dynamic Yorkshire athletes who last year ran, kayaked and cycled across Europe in aid of our Armed Forces heroes, are launching a new world record attempt from Land's End to John O’Groats – and need your help.
The Ultra 6 Great Britain challenge, spearheaded once more by Leeds’s Andy North and colleagues, will see a team of runners complete a daily cycle and marathon from July 14th- 20th to raise money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity and the Forces’ Children’s’ Trust.
Andy North, Ben Wood and team aim to complete the 850 miles in a world record time of just 6.4 days; in that time they will complete 26.2 miles daily and then cycle a further 100 miles on the same day; a total of 15 hours on the move each day.
The entourage will joined for two days along the route by former soldier Andy Reid who lost three limbs whilst serving in Afghanistan with 3 YORKS in 2009.
As a result of the IED explosion, Andy lost his right leg below the knee, left leg above the knee, and right arm. After being flown back to the UK, he astounded people with his recovery by only spending only two weeks in hospital.
The team also hope to inspire young people so in the run up to the event, will roll out a programme to schools and other institutions aimed promoting well-being, health and fitness in young people. Inspired Life.org, in tandem with the Ultra 6 team, will be trail-blazing the efforts of the Ultra 6 teams to encourage youngsters to get out of the house and to get fit.
This is not the first time the Yorkshire adventurers have gone to the extreme in support of charity; in autumn 2011 Andy North accompanied by Dave Edwards, Mick Bowden and Mike Senior completed the Sunshine Challenge. They undertook the equivalent of 25 marathons, covered over 1,700 miles of cycling and kayaked 26 miles, over 43 days of physical endurance from Catterick Garrison to Gibraltar. This year the stalwart team will also be joined by Ben Wood who brings his vast cycling skill & knowledge from his many years working at Allterrain Cycles in Bradford.
“We thought we couldn’t top the gruelling run we made from N Yorkshire to Gibraltar last year – but what better way to make our efforts even more relevant than create a community of challengers,. Our aim is to set a new world record by running and cycling 126.2 miles per day in total and to raise £50,000 for charity.
“Following the success of the Olympics and Tour de France our dream is to motivate and inspire people to actively use sport and compete for their country. And at a time when so much focus is on the heroic endeavours of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan we must make special mention of Andy Reid who is facing an extraordinary difficult challenge in attempting his first consecutive distance bike ride since his horrific injury fighting for our country.