Facing the Gauntlet

It’s always good to challenge yourself, at least that’s one of the ways I am trying to convince myself it was a good idea to enter myself into the Hever Castle Half Ironman on September 27,  aka ‘The Gauntlet’, doesn’t sound terrifying at all does it!

A part of the Castle Triathlon Series the Gauntlet is a half iron distance triathlon. I am promised a refreshing 1.9km swim taking in the beautiful Hever Castle lake and a tributary of the River Eden, followed by a dramatic 90km cycle through the stunning scenery of the Kent High Weald and if that’s not enough the day will end with a 21km run taking me past the historic village of Chiddingstone and Chiddingstone castle.

If this sounds like your kind of thing or like me fancy a challenge then you can still sign up from the Castle Triathlon Series website.

Now to be honest I am rather nervous, I have done a couple of pool based sprint triathlons and the odd 5k or 10k run but I have never done an open water swim and I have never done a half marathon, let alone after a swim and ride, what could possibly go wrong?

I have been doing some training for a few weeks now but with only 13 weeks to go I really need to step it up a notch and I would be grateful for any tips, so please do email explorekent@kent.gov.uk if you have any!

It wouldn’t be right if I was going to embark on this physical challenge if I wasn’t also going to try and raise some money for charity.

This year the NSPCC are the national charity partner of the Castle Triathlon Series 2015 and I shall proudly running on their behalf. The NSPCC helps children who have been abused, to rebuild their lives, protect children at risk and find the best ways of preventing child abuse from ever happening.

Explore Kent are hoping to raise £500 for the NSPCC and if you would be kind enough to spend a small amount of your time to donate whatever you can afford we would be very grateful.

Stay tuned as Steve will be blogging about his training on the run up to entering the Hever Castle Triathlon challenge.

You can support Steve in the Hever Castle Half Iron Man and raise fund for the NSPCC by clicking on the link below.