Next event on - 7 July 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening. I stand here as Mr UneXtreme – I don’t have an eXtreme bone in my body. So you can just imagine that when my beloved said to me “Dear….(You know there’s trouble brewing when they address you so. It probably means they’ve also already decided they want to do something, but want to appear like they’re seeking your opinion.) I’ve got an email inviting us to enter this eXtreme challenge. Don’t you think we should do it?” My reply was Rollocks – I’ve always had difficulty with my B’s.

The trouble is I have a certain amount in common with Rumpole of the Bailey in the wife department. But despite that I found myself in training, which for a man whose personal motto is “never run when you can walk and never walk when you can ride”, is not a good state to be in.

As I gasped my way up the small Cotswold hillock behind our crumbling hovel I implored the good Lord to ‘Take me now’. A voice from a rather flammable looking bush said “Look sunshine I have 20 million Parkistanis up to their necks in water right now, so just keep running.”

I’m not a man to give up easily. So as a further excuse to get out of training I threw myself off a five foot high wall executing a fine backwards dive with summersault and pike but sadly without tuck. Tom Bradley would have been proud: the Hospital was less complimentary.

Perhaps unfortunately I’m a quick healer and the two broken ribs seemed amenable to running provided I didn’t sneeze. So, despite my best intentions, three other members of family and I found ourselves at Willen Lake on a fresh Sunday morning in September.

It was immediately apparent when we looked around at our fellow challengers that there were two types of people here. The Mills', with our friends the Donners, and the Amazons that made up the rest of the pack. Clearly when God made the Mills' he forgot to add the yeast!

But before I give you the rather predictable results let me tell you a bit about the event. It’s a quadrathalon consisting of a 1.5km swim, a 5km kayak, 30km bike ride and a 10km run. There were six of the more leavened challengers who opted to complete all four challenges themselves. But for those who are not completely insane each team member takes one challenge.

The fifth challenge was to raise money for Homes in Zimbabwe. At the risk of becoming biblical the last shall be first. We, as you would imagine, came rank last in the physical parts of the challenge but no one could beat us in the fund raising. And there is a reason for this. You see the amazons who do this sort of thing several times a year as a hobby just cannot keep tapping their friends and family for sponsorship every time they enter an event. The rank amateurs like teams Mills and Donner can do just that because we are SERIOUSLY challenged by events of this nature.

The eXtreme 5 challenge, which incidentally is on Sunday 10th July next year, offers you a unique opportunity. How often, as a parent, can you do something special for others that involves the whole family? Something that is challenging but also brings the whole family together. My son (our kayaker) is 12 years old and my bicycling daughter has never cycled more than 5 miles at a time. So if we the unleavened ones can do it, so can you – and as a family event it is hugely satisfying.

The trick the following year is to involve other branches of the family or friends to raise their own teams and get their network of friends to sponsor them. We’re working on that for 2011.

This year the eXtreme Challenge raised £15,600 for Homes in Zimbabwe – next year with your help and enthusiasm the goal of £100,000 can be a reality. See you at Willen Lake on July10th.