Kierons 24 Hour AMRAP Challenge is Completed
102, 552 exercise repetitions, 12870 calories burned (measured by a fitness tracker), and 650 torched and shredded muscles later, the 24hr Crossfit AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) challenge is finally concluded!
With over 120 teams globally entering the event, our game plan of spending 45 minutes of each hour completing the exercise repetitions with 15 minutes rest before the next hour, together with a 2-hour break for each athlete during the 24 hours, was duly thrown out of the window! The urgency of working through the repetitions was unabated from hour 1 to hour 24! Replace the above game plan with 5 minutes rest before the next hour was to start and remove any notion of a 2-hour break to a 30-minute reflection on what the hell are we doing: this was to become the order of the day.
Each hour compounded the growing muscle pain and suffering until we reached a plateau and the mind took over. It was at these moments that I reminded myself why I was doing this and what some poor child might have to similarly endure through a chemotherapy cycle, the pain they must go through, the mental strength required, and the lost days, weeks, months, and years, of a childhood to cancer. These thoughts gave me strength to persevere – what I was doing was easy in comparison.
To conclude, I would like to give huge thanks to all those involved in helping to realise our goal of supporting Candlelighters through this event: Sophie Caygill for everything she did; my good friend Pete and his partner Helen, who designed and produced our amazing event t-shirts; all the people who donated on our justgiving charity page – I am truly humbled by the generosity; Candlelighters for their help and assistance throughout the preparation of the event; the athletes who chose to face this challenge and be part of something forever remembered; and last but by no means least, my wife Lisa and son Joshua who have supported me throughout the past six months.
