On Monday 19th January, along with five other lads, Rob Bell will be undertaking a week long multi-marathon challenge to run seven marathons, on seven continents, in seven days.
Rob has been training in Chile for the past week where he now heads off for his first marathon in Antartica. There he will experience a huge range of climates including negative temperatures and probably quite hefty wind factors. For part of it he’ll probably be running on snow, before he returns to run in the beauty of South America in Punta Arena. After which he’ll jet up to run in Houston, Texas where he can also enjoy great big BBQ burgers. His fourth marathon will then take place in the familiar sights and sounds of London, whereas his fifth will take place in Cairo, a rather different experience for the group. His penultimate race then takes place in Singapore where the humidity will make for tough conditions and Rob’s final race then takes place in Sidney. This will be slap bang in the middle of their summer where the heat will provide one last staggering test for the group.
The only sleep they will get is on the plane, which will be time much needed for re-hydration and rest.
Digital writer, Tom Bristow, caught up with him before he jetted off:
Q) Rob, the challenge sounds incredible, but we have to ask, why are you doing this, what’s behind it all?
A) It’s a challenge we all want to take on, we all want to push ourselves to the limit and see if we can do it. Mainly it’s just to have a lot of fun, we’re going to be meeting all sorts of people along the way and there’s going to be so many adventures.
All of us are amateur enthusiasts, all of us have run marathons before, everyone’s done an Ironman and you’re always trying to push yourself, trying to beat your personal best. This is definitely something out of my comfort zone, it’s definitely going to stretch us and it’s definitely going to challenge us.
Any amateur enthusiastic athlete has got that within them, to get out there and see what they’re capable of, see where their limits actually lie.
When we get out there we’ve got additional motivation in that we’re raising money for two fantastic charities. One in the UK and one in Australia.
Q) It all sounds incredible, how’s your training been?
A) In terms of how physically fit and ready we all are, I don’t know how we can be anymore ready. We’ve all done a lot of training, put thousands of miles in and strengthened our bodies as well as getting advice on all of that. I feel fitter than I ever have done and definitely physically ready for this, which is a nice feeling. You have to be confident doing something like this.
Q) Seems like you’re ready, but are you nervous?
A) I am nervous, because it’s the unknown. I get nervous before any race, before any marathon or triathlon I do. I like to take myself away from any of my friends or hustle and bustle, and just go through it all in my mind. In these last three of four days I’ve got left now, I will take a moment at some point and just sit there with some headphones on, in somewhere very quiet and isolated. But on the side of nervousness comes excitement, we’ve been planning this for 12 months and we’re so ready to get out there and just get started.
Q) What are you most looking forward to?
A) I am most looking forward to both starting and finishing. I can’t wait to get going on this, I’m so ready, the camaraderie between us all is just going to be huge. We’re going to all feel so close to each other and I absolutely thrive off that kind of team environment, and everyone’s going to be looking out for each other.
I also can’t wait to hit that finishing line and I think about that a lot. When times are hard when you’re out training, I think about that finish line and visualise myself reaching it and imagine how I’m going to feel when I cross it.
Q) You can probably guess my next question; what are you least looking forward to?
A) I’m least looking forward to lack of the sleep. When you talk to people about it, they’re initial reaction is ‘oh my god, you’re going to run seven marathons’. I don’t think they fully comprehend how sleep deprived we’re going to be throughout this.
Yeah we’re going to get the odd hour here and there, but it’s not going to be good quality. We’ll be sat upright in an economy class seat on plane with other people around you making noises. I think that’s going to do weird things to us, we might go bit a ‘doolally’, definitely a bit cranky and I think that’s going to be really funny as well as annoying.
I know from experience, having done a couple of 48hr challenges, the smallest thing can really bug you and tip you over the edge and make you angry, and that’s going to happen so often. We all know that now, we’ve all apologised to each other in advance for any crankiness. You’re just in your own weird little mind, because you’re so tired and so confused, that’s what scares me and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with it.
All I can do is get out there and do my best.
Q) Well Rob, it sounds like an absolute behemoth of a challenge, and I wish you all the very best.
A) Thanks pal, thanks very much.
Rob Bell’s 777 challenge will feature this April on Travel Channel, Virgin Media 288, Sky channel 249 and 251 and on Freesat, channel 151.
