Ok, so September has come and gone and what a month it has been. Everyone involved in the September Sweat Challenge has done a fantastic job and we've all reached our targets.
Mum swam for an hour on the last two days to complete her 30th hour in the pool which is a fantastic achievement. When I first tabled the idea of doing another challenge this year I was expecting her to decline but I got an immediate response of "I'll swim for an hour a day every day" and she has! Brilliant.
Kimberly as you know ran her half marathon earlier in the month and has continued with the running club ever since.
With two days to go I still had nearly 66 miles to ride so on the 29th I drove to Bath to cycle the Bath to Bristol railway path again. The plan was to do well over half of the miles (about 50) so that I would then have just 16 or so to do on the last day and claim the longest ride of the month! The path is only about 13 miles long so I would have to go there and back more than once. After getting to Bristol for the first time I had a text from Jon saying he had done 55 mile so far and had at least 5 more to get home so this spurred me on to do more. I cycled from Bath to Bristol and back twice (about 54 miles) and then went 5 miles along the path a third time before turning round and coming back. A massive total of over 64 miles! I know some people will say that as it was on a railway path there wasn't that many inclines and yes it certainly was easier than if it was on the road but anyone that knows me will know that I'm not exactly an athlete so I think that cycling 64 miles in any shape or form is a massive achievement! I probably should have just done the last mile and finished my challenge but like last year I left myself a 1.1 mile procession for the last day of September.
Jon's ride ended up being just over 61 miles which is 50% longer then his previous longest ride, another fantastic effort and it smashed him through the 400 mile mark. Challenge complete for him. In a text for me he quoted Sir Steve Redgrave (with a bit of artistic licence) and said "If you ever see me near a bike again, please shoot me!".
After being goaded into an extra challenge and targeting 1000km (620 miles) Tom left himself a fairly long ride on the final day. Her did his normal commute of just under 22 miles in the morning and then did 30.1 miles coming home which he thought would break the 1000km mark. Being an accountant I would have expected him to get his maths right but alas his total was stuck at 999km so he went out for an extra couple of miles just to get over the line.
As promised I completed my last 1.1 miles (well I did 2.5) on the final day by cycling to the shop to buy a crate of beer. My challenge is now complete.
I cannot express with enough gratitude how proud I am of the team of challengers and everyone who has sponsored us this month. At the time of writing we have currently raised £1,664 and the total is set to rise further as the promises come in.
Thank you Mum, Kimberly, Jon, and Tom for doing the challenges and thank you everyone else who has supported us.
It's been emotional...
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