Gerry completes cycle marathon
Gerry Hunt, trained by Phil Chalmers, completed nearly 4 months training & preparation by cycling a full marathon (26.2 miles) on an adapted road bike.
On Saturday 5th August, Gerry took to his "virtual road" and cycled the equivalent of Oxford to Reading outside Sainsbury’s in Calcot, Reading to raise funds for the building of a new St. John Ambulance Headquarters in Theale.
This achievement is far cry from a year ago when Gerry was coming to terms with the effects of diabetes - blindness, deafness in one ear and loss of balance & sensation in his legs. He was advised to take up regular exercise to help control his diabetes and began training just over a year ago. During this time he has worked with Phil to rediscover his fitness & confidence. In April this year he decided to set himself the goal of cycling marathon using Phil’s adapted road bike. At that moment in time he could manage about 3 miles in a single session (about 10 minutes). Over the coming weeks his training schedule was designed to enable him to cycle for nearly 2 hours, allowing for a pit-stop mid-way. It wasn’t all plain sailing as 3 weeks before the event he blew out after 45 minutes having comfortably achieved over an hour the week before. Careful reflection showed that his eating habits had been poor in the preceding day - this was rectified in the last two weeks training and things were on track again.
On the day, Gerry was busy from 6 in the morning assisting with the assembly of the arena. By 11 he had already done a good day’s work and, after checking of his blood sugar & pressure, he set off on his challenge.
He hit a minor wall at about 21 miles but persevered and finished strongly in just under 2 hours (including his break). Afterwards Gerry posed for photos and was presented a plaque by the head of St. John Ambulance, Theale to recognise his achievement. Gerry remarked "I really enjoyed myself today and was delighted by the response of the onlookers".
FINISHED!
Ryan's Fat Loss Tips
