n August 12th, Ivan Hollingsworth set out with a solid team of keen friends on his latest escapade in aid of his son Seb and the Children’s Heart Unit Fund at the Freeman Hospital where is son has been treated, know as Seb4CHUF.
Many people will be familiar with the 100mile24hour run Ivan completed at Easter in aid of CHUF and you may well think that was his first foray into the world of crazy endurance challenges for CHUF; you would be wrong!
This all started 2 years ago, when Ivan and 4 friends devised the Seb4CHUF C2C Challenge; running 5 Marathons in 5 days from Whitehaven on the North West coast of England and finishing at Tynemouth on the North East coast (raising £18,000 along the way). Thinking that wasn’t enough, they doubled it and created the Seb4CHUF C2C² Challenge, and then in 2010 they cycled from east to west (140 miles in 2 days) and ran 5 Marathons in 5 days back; once again finishing on the beautiful golden sands at Tynemouth (raising £67,000). Both were successful and alongside the hardcore of people completing the entire Challenge, they were joined by so many people cycling or running Half Marathon, Marathon and everything in between. The success of these events hinged on they're ability to create something difficult enough that it would hit the headlines, whilst offering as many opportunities for others to join them for sections along the way.
With this in mind immediately after the C2C² last August Ivan started thinking about what 2012's challenge could be. How could he make it harder without making it impossible, more eye catching without being a logistical nightmare and most importantly have as many opportunities for people to join in along the way and help to maximise the money they could raise for CHUF. Ivan says he's always liked the thought of a challenge taking place between Cumbria and the North East because this encompasses the geographical areas that the Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital looks after; it helps that a team would be able to enjoy some of the most stunning scenery the UK has to offer along the way.
The result of his pondering created the Seb4CHUF C2C³ Challenge (note the ingeneous name!). The 3 represents the 3rd year we have taken on the C2C, the 3 days it will take to get across the country and the 3 different disciplines they employed to do it.
So here is what they did:
Day 1 (Sunday 12th August):
Whitehaven to Brampton - Cycle 100 miles and swim 1 mile across Derwent Water, Keswick (the swim takes place 30 miles into the ride)
Day 2 (Monday 13th August):
Brampton to Close House Hotel in Heddon on the Wall - Run a double Marathon (53 miles)
Day 3 (Tuesday 14th August):
Close House Hotel to Tynemouth (via the Monument in Newcastle) - Run a Marathon or Half Marathon (the final Half Marathon leg is from the Monument)
It may sound a little confusing but the aim of the C2C³ was to enable as many people to join them as logistically possible and including running, cycling and swimming certainly enabled this to happen. In fact this year there were over 60 people joining Ivan and his team throughout the 3 days, all achieving fantastic personal goals and raising as much money for CHUF as possible.
Fundraising
The Children’s Heart Unit at the Freeman Hospital is one of only two centres in the UK offering paediatric heart transplant and bridge to transplant, with transplant numbers increasing to the point where the unit now provides almost HALF of the UK’s paediatric transplants.CHUF'S aim is to raise money to buy equipment, facilities, aftercare and research for the Children's Heart Unit and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Freeman Hospital. Follow the link to donate.
You can also donate by texting ‘CHUF99’ and ‘£5’ or ‘£10’ to 70070.
Picture source: chuf.org.uk
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