The London Evening Standard today ran a piece examining the motivation and training regime of the man they dub: London's fittest man.
That man is a guy called Julian Crabtree, a friend of mine (and occasional commentator on this blog), and this summer he is going to try and do something truly remarkable: break the record for the fastest ever completion of the Arch to Arc Challenge.
Sadly the Standard hasn't yet posted its story on its website, so for those of you who don't know what the A2A challenge is, I'll explain. It's an endurance Triathlon in which the participant (of whom, for obvious reasons, there are very few) run the 87 miles from London's Marble Arch to Dover, swims the 22 miles of the English channel and then cycles the 180 miles to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. And if he makes it, particuarly in the record time of 81 hours and five minutes, then I'd say that was a triumph in any language. Julian's website explains something of the history of the Challenge and his rationale (if that's the right word) for it.
Besides being a madman (obviously), Julian is one of the most decent people you could hope to meet, and I obviously wish him well. I would also urge all of you to visit the site www.juliancrabtree.com and donate to either of the two excellent charities he is running, swimming and cycling for: The Wooden Spoon Society and The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund.
