What are we up to week by week?.....
25th-30th May - Challenge271 week!!
Monday we drive to Norfolk, picking up physio Leanne Clements on the way and staying at the Holiday Inn, Norwich. 1 sleep until Day 1!
16-23rd May
A hard weekend saw us complete a boot sale in Norfolk with Dads clothes. This big final push helped us raise a massive £228 towards the total. During the week we have an ice cream sale at school sports day, a raffle for a cake at queens school and then on saturday we see the bag packing day at asda bring our fundrasing to a close for before the challenge!
5th - 15th May
With day 4 and 5 of the Mini challenge done, this week turns our attention to the staff rounders tournament at KHS, the staff raffle by Jeremy and Rob to win a day of work and the biggest fundraiser to date , the Queens 11 aside tournament on Sunday. The total now stands at £14,500
27th - 4th May
This week I am starting my Mini Challenge, consisting of 174km instead of 271. This involves 3 17 mile runs and 2 45km cycles over the Bank Holiday Weekend. I have also been collecting at Oxhey Jets FC, who through John Elliot's kindness, has allowed 7 cup finals to be a collection point for me. With 1 final to go they have helped raised around £200. Thank you to all at the club.
6th - 26th April
A busy 3 week period especially with training as the miles have stepped up. We have also raised a lot through bag packing in Tesco, 2 football tournaments and other businesses. There are now only 28 days to go and everything is going well! Fingers crossed it stays that way.
30th March - 5th April
Monday = 13 miles, Tuesday 2 hour cycle, Wednesday 13 miles and Thursday 2 hour cycle before a 3 hour drive to Norfolk with Hannah :) Now I can enjoy a nice Easter weekend after training 8/9 days and covering over 100 miles! Can we hit 10k over the weekend?
23rd - 29th March
Two rest days on Monday and Tuesday but then full on the rest of the week. 32KM Wed night, 10km run Thursday night, 35km Friday to school and back and then a 20km run Saturday morning! This week saw £100 donated by Craig at KPMG AND £505 raised by Kingsbury High year 8. Queens' Sixth former's raised £400 with their wear purple day and so the total is nudging towards £9000!
16th - 22nd March
A big start to the week with training Monday to Wednesday before a two day rest period before the weekend. Saturday will see Gary run and cycle for 271 minutes in the foyer of Bushey Grove Leisure Centre trying to raise money. Gary is hoping that members of the public will offer to jump on for periods of time to give him a rest! This week also sees Queens School do a wear purple day and Kingsbury High School launch a Sponsored Silence for their students! If only they could do it during school time!
9th - 15th March
This week saw Gary really step up his training with a 13 mile run Thursday and 11 mile run Saturday sandwiched between a 30km ride on Friday! On Saturday Gary and Trish were fortunate to be invited to to the Directors Box at Watford FC to celebrate Gary's mention in the programme. A good week for coverage was topped off by mentions in the Watford Observer and Harrow Times.
2nd - 8th March
Friday sees the Kingsbury High School staff v student badminton tournament. Training will see Gary Running Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Cycling Thursday. Keep checking Facebook for something special this week...
EDIT - The Badminton tournament raised a whopping £121 and was won by Siew and Mr P! Congratulations to all that took part. Garys run on Friday saw him run to work! A 6-15 set off time got Gary to work by 8am after covering 11.5 miles. Now a phone call is needed to UD Salon for a massage!
24th - 1st March
This week saw a Year 8 football tournament at Kingsbury High on Friday and Gary's very first Ice Bath! After a busy weekend, cycling on the road for the first time on his own and then running Sunday for 1 hour 35 minutes covering 17.5 km, Gary took the plunge in a bath filled with Ice. To supposedly help with blood flow, the 6 minutes submerged waist deep felt like a lifetime but hopefully Mondays run will benefit from it. Finally, Monday saw Gary have his next Sports Massage by an old work colleague Olivia Chapman. Olivia very kindly gave up her time and resources to freshen Gary's legs up after a gruelling half term. Olivia has kindly offered other sessions in the build up to he event for which Gary is very grateful.
16th -23rd February
Well last week saw £1400 go online from Challenge PE, Queens' School football tournament, Sponging the staff at Kingsbury and then the big £867 from Sainsbury's bag packing Saturday. This week Gary is on half term so he has really stepped up the training. So far he has completed; Saturday 31km Bike, Sunday 5km Run, Monday 12km Run, Wednesday 10km run, Thursday 35km Bike and Friday 10km run!! That's over 100km in a week with 3 months to go.
On Tuesday Gary drove to the start line and finalised the route on the drive home, checking hills, paths and other obstacles. On Monday the Challenge 271 team had their 3rd meeting in Croxley discussing the t shirts, other fundraising and the plan of attack!
8th - 15th February
This week sees Kingsbury High School students sponge their teachers to help raise money. They will also have the chance to play them at table tennis and netball as the 6th formers and year 8s join together to help Mr Froy!
Don't forget this Saturday is the first bag packing day for Challenge 271! We will be at Sainsbury's, Dome Roundabout, from 10 - 4 pm on Saturday 14th February.
1st - 7th February
This week we hope to finalise the sponsorship t shirts, 2 more companies to find, as well as stepping up the miles even more.
The t shirts are now ready for printing with Jazz and should be ready for all future events. The T shirts should be showing UD Salon, McNicholas Construction, M K Ginder & Son's, Amie bone flowers and Imagine, all of who we greatly appreciate their continued support for the event.
A couple of days training has seen the mileage leap up and the body is feeling good for Gary!
26th January - 1st February
A meeting with local Personal Trainer Dan Christopher helps secure the final training plan...not many rest days! Thursday saw a 10km bike ride at Bushey Grove Leisure Centre, an 8km run at work Friday and another 24km cycle on Saturday morning to finish a tough few days. Sunday 1st February saw Gary play his final game for Rifle Volunteer FC, a pub in Bushey, in order to focus solely on his training.
19th - 25th January
Monday sees a meeting with an old school friend to discuss a business sponsorship deal. Tuesdays planned run may have to be missed with a small tweak of the hamstring.
12th - 18th January
Two 10km training runs and an 8km run before work have given me a good platform for the rest of January. As well as the runs, a productive meeting with Kidney Research's Henry Kimbell on Thursday and a massage at UD Salon on Saturday have meant this has been another solid week for Challenge 271. Now to hand out 35 charity pots to local shops/pubs and finalise the sponsorship of the t-shirts!
5th - 12th January
2015 started with a very busy week for Challenge271. Monday saw Gary have a meeting with Paul Lincoln, a kind volunteer who has offered to lend Gary a bike for the duration of his Challenge. Paul has also offered a helmet and shoes, as well as his time during training rides over the coming weeks. Without a bike, this challenge wouldn't be able to happen and for that we thank Paul and his family.
Wednesday evening saw a 2nd meeting with the owners of UD Salon and Illuminate Tutoring. Sponsorship of t-shirts and large scale companies was discussed as well as plans for the finish line. Thank you to both companies for their help. To find out more about both click on the link above.