Race 7 - August 18: Sparwood, BC to Fernie, BC

Duane and Matty finally bring their rocky challenge to an end coming in 67th in the final short race to finish an impressive 79th overall. Tim Heemskerk and Roddi Lega from Canada were the winners in the end with a total time of 24 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds. They won nearly all the stages as well. In the end only 108 made it to the finish line in the open mens category. MORE »

Although Matty’s reports have only reached race four in reality the boys are now through six stages with only one to go later today. Through that and it’ll be all done for them. Today they slipped back to 82nd overall out of the 121 left from the 131 that started in their category. The following report is the report from cycling news… MORE »

The race has been going on and while Matty and Duanes position has been consistent it has been gradually improving.

Race 3: Aug 14: Nipika Resort to Nipika Resort: 89th @ +2′12′01
Race 4: Aug 15: Nipika Resort to White Swan: 74th @ +2′00′07
Race 5: Aug 16: Whiteswan to Elkford: 68th @ +2′05′27

OVERALL: 78th @ +9′55′20

Race 2 - August 13: Invermere - Nipika Resort, 60km

Duane and Matty were at it again Monday for stage two of their trans-rockies challenge. Yet again they came in 87th putting them in 89th overall out of the 131 in the race. The following is the report from cycling news… MORE »

Race 1 - August 12: Panorma Mountain Villiage to Invermere, 33km

The boys got their Trans-Rockies challenge underway yesterday in a short but extremely tough course. They finished up 87th out of 131 in the open mens category and an excellent 135th out of 300 overall. According to my calculations they were the 13th placed Brit/Irish riders out of 30 in their category and 20th from the British Isles out of 51 in all. Good work boys. The following is the report from cycling news… MORE »

So all the planning and preparation is now behind them as the boys yesterday flew out to the land of the Maple Leaf to take on their Rocky Mountain Challenge.  The event itself does not get underway until the weekend but the lads flew out to Toronto to spend a few days in the nearby suburb of Mississauga with family friends to relax and get up to speed with the jet lag before making the further flight on to Calgary.

I certainly do not envy the baggage the guys have to carry about with them.  I dropped them off to the airport and these bike bags are enormous.  I’m sure a few eyebrows in airport security were raised when they walked in the door with these huge plastic boxes!

No doubt though they’ll be glad to see the back of them for a few days before again moving them on to Calgary were they will again take a few days to acclimatise to the conditions before beginning the event.

Keep an eye on this link for more on Duane and Matty’s challenge.

Click here to sponsor them.

For all of you out there who have lifted copies of photos over the years, good luck to you. But now a little pay-back is required.

Some of you will know that my son Matty and his friend Duane are taking part in the TransRockies Challenge in Canada next month. This is a major enduro MTB race over 7 days through the mountains, camping out each night and riding 5-6 hours each day. It was Duane’s idea to go and raise money for the CLIC Sargent charity (Caring for children with cancer) at the same time. Duane was a sufferer a few years ago and benefited from the charity. He ran the London Marathon to raise funds last year and now wants to go a bit further. The lads are covering all their own costs, which are considerable. Every penny they raise will go to the charity and they have done well so far.

It would be great if you could gift any amount to the charity on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/duaneandmatty

Have a look at the TransRockies site to see what they have gotten into: http://www.transrockies.com/transrockies/index.html

 Thanks for looking anyway.