Strongman 2012
Friday 4th of May saw me setting off on what was to be an epic weekend.
12:00 came and Stephen Keywood and Pappa K came to pick me up to set off to Stanstead Airport.
Arriving in good time we met up with the rest of Fisherman’s Friends Team GB who turned out to be a cracking bunch and jumped on the German Wings flight to Cologne. ( I’d never heard of that airline either )
Within a few hours we arrived at the Nuremberg F1 Track and our hotel, there isn’t much there, the Track, few hotels and several bars and café’s. It looked very nice although we didn’t get to see much due to the think fog / clouds that tuned out to linger about all weekend.
The hotel was excellent, clean, tidy, smart and perfect for everything along with F1 memorabilia all about. Collecting our Fisherman’s Friends kit and goodie bag we got settled and headed out for dinner and to get to know the team with a cpl of beers although I did have a few more than a cpl
After a fairly good nights sleep the morning arrived, looking out of my balcony I could see traffic jams already at 8am, the race didn’t start till 12…. It looked mental busy with traffic, officials and public walking about both spectators and runners. It made me wonder how mental busy the F1 weekend must be.
Heading down to the track it soon became apparent that the start finish area, (which I add was the starting grid and Pit area of the track which was a great memory to have, – I ran down the Nuremberg Race Track) was covered in thick lingering fog, this ended up causing a delay of half an hour and I later found out nearly resulted in the race being cancelled. The fog was thick the organisers had concerns for the safety of competitors entering obstacles especially the water ones and not being spotted if in trouble.
Waiting in one of the pit areas we had some food and drinks and got ready including several members of the team being patriotic with GB face paint, it was great watching people all in fancy dress, some in manikin’s etc which was funny and dam cold for them I reckon. The time seemed to take ages but we were soon standing on the finishing straight of the course and in a crowd of over 9 thousand other people, jumping dancing and singing – at one point You’ll Never Walk Alone was played ( Liverpool lost later that day to Chelsea in the FA Cup Final 2-1…Gutted )
The crowd starting counting down…. Well I think they did, it was in German and Bang we we’re off………..well after another 10 to 15 min of waiting for the 4 to 5 thousand people in front of us to move first…lol
Sprinting off as best we could, Stuart Amory, Stephen Keywood and myself darted in and out of the crowd making headway around the track and gravel spin off areas into the surrounding hills…. There was one huge delay for us of about 15 minutes at the first gate area which was disappointing but unavoidable with the current lay out of the event. After this wait we set off again and was soon running well, obstacle one was a little hill and water and spotting Steph our photographer I headed over to the left rope to climb up, pushing some German out the way…. Opps lol I’m glad I did as Steph got a craking pic.
Plodding on well with Stuart and Steve for just over the first half of the lap I soon started to fall of their pace a little on the small inclines, I’ve never been very good on inclines but stayed in touch with Steve for the rest of the lap. The obstacles were great, not that energy zapping but worked every muscle and primed you for cramp. I managed to not suffer with this at all so was well chuffed. The water obstacle involving swimming 20 meters or so was great and on the first lap took my breath away although one a bonus did clean all the mud off.
I started the second lap and was about 2 minutes behind Steve, Stuart was out of sight…I kept running but fell about 3 miles into lap 2. Each lap being about 7 miles in the end, I landed right on my left knee onto a hard area and although no permanent damage it was cut and swelled causing me to walk for about 5 minutes.
Manning up and getting a grip I got back into a run and cracked on, I’d lost sight of Steve so was just keen to do well and finish Strong for Team GB.
3:00:13 later I crossed the finish line to Steph and Nicole waiting with the camera and around the corner some fantastic German Cake which I scoffed instantly.
14 wet muddy miles hard miles in 3Hrs with a good 20 minutes of waiting about.
I made my way back to the VIP Pit area to catch up with Steve and Stuart – Team GB 1st 2nd and 3rd J – Team Captain Stuart did the proper thing and got me a pint straight away.
We awaited the rest of the team to all finish which I add they all did, several pints to celebrate and then onto the after party, this was great, many people of all nationalities together in one area to just chill out and celebrate.
Would I do this again…… HELL YES….. Fisherman’s Friends and the team were amazing, hard work for them to organise which all paid off with a flawless event.
I even have started to use Fisherman’s Friends during my training and I will use in my events. Clears the airwaves well and refreshes the mouth, almost a little buzz with everyone to wake you up a bit, I can imagine this coming in handy on the long runs.
WELL DONE TEAM GB
Meet some of the Team
Stuart Amory of In-Kilter Fitness is a well known celebrity personal trainer, who has trained the likes of actress Emily Blunt and presenter Zoe Salmon and is regularly seen or heard offering fitness advice on TV, Radio, Newspapers and Magazines.Stuart was born in Aberdeen in August 1975 and stayed in the North East of Scotland until joining the Royal Air Force as a Physical Training Instructor in 1995.
On leaving the RAF in 2005, he gained his diploma in personal training and sports massage with Premier International.
Stuart quickly started training clients in the south west London area and was chosen to train Blue Peter’s Zoe Salmon to be the first woman presenter to run the London marathon.With Stuart’s reputation as an effective and motivating fitness trainer, he regularly provides advice as an industry expert to many well known magazines including Cosmo Brides, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Heat, and Good Housekeeping.
Based near Woking in Surrey, Steve is a qualified personal trainer and sports massage therapist. He has a degree in sport and exercise science and psychology from the highly regarded St Mary’s University College, London and has been working in the industry for 5 years.Steve regularly assists clients from busy mums and businessmen to performance athletes. Utilising his knowledge and understanding in human function he will help you achieve your goals.Steve is accredited with a Premier Diploma in Personal Training and Sports Massage Therapy and is recognised by the Register for Exercise Professionals and the National Register for Personal Trainers.
Steve has also completed in Tough Guy, Ironman France, was 2nd in the Trans Britain 6 Day Multi Stage Ultra and various other events.
EX Royal Navy Officer Chris was involved in a accident in 2002 which resulted in being thrown from his bike. He walked out of a London hospital two days later with a few broken ribs, a couple scrapes and bruises, and a concussion. Three months later, he was back on the bike.And then, stillness. The morning after his return to riding, Chris woke up paralyzed above his waist. He’d soon learn from doctors that the pain receptor in his brain was switched off during the bike accident, but now that it had turned back on, his body was in shock. Triathlons were no longer a possibility, the doctors told him. In front of him was a much more modest goal: To simply walk 10 yards. It took him three years to fully recover from all the nerve injuries, he’s since managed to go a lot further than 10 yards, running a 100-mile ultra marathon, completing an Iron Man, and hiking Russia’s massive Mount Elbrus.
Chris faces his challenges fueled by perspective. “There’s always someone worse off than me,” he says. “When it’s really bad, when it really hurts, when I’ve been running for 26 hours in an ultra marathon … all I need to do is remember my buddies in Afghanistan. That’s all it takes.
Luke Knapp is a passionate health and fitness professional, dedicated to helping his clients achieve the best possible results. He has an impressive history of successful participation in a range of sports, enabling him to give a wide range of people guidance, based on real experience and enthusiasm.
As a keen sportsman himself, he works hard to maintain his own personal fitness and recently achieved a silver medal in the national UMA ground-fighting championships. His sporting and fitness interests include Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, rugby, running and a wide range of strength training disciplines, such as Kettlebells and TRX, and this range is expanding all the time.
I understand he is new to running and really looking forward to the Strongman event
The Course
Two laps of the Nürburgring will be gruelling with 15 obstacles per lap meaning 30 in total over roughly 18km. There was talk it’s a little further for good measure.
Meter thick mud, icy cold water, bails of hay on fire, 11% inclines covered in mud both up and down, crawling through gravel, monkey bars oh and did I mention MUD !!!!
Its gonna be epic !!!!!!!!!!!
