Team Crazy Train wins triathlon challenge bid

Team Crazy Train - Alan Jepson, and Neal Parkin from Kirkby, Paul Rhodes,from Sutton and Vaclav Stemberk, who works at King’s Mill Hospital took on the Race The Sun triathlon challenge on 30th August and won the first time they entered it.

The team competed against 85 teams from around the country in the Lake District, taking on a 23-mile cycle ride (including a 6 miles offroad section), followed by a 3,116ft climb up England’s second highest mountain, Helvellyn, another cycle ride, then 3km kayak section on Lake Thirlmire, before another 26 miles cycling to the finish.

They have raised £760 so far for Action Medical Research, a charity dedicated to improving the health of babies and children,

Alan, 35 said: ”It was unreal when we won it - We had a really good team effort. We crossed the finish line in 8 hours 31 minutes after dealing with high winds and bad conditions we found out that we had managed to win by five minutes.

He added: “After completing the 3 Peaks Challenge of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in under 24 hours in 2013 I was keen to try something else.

In January I received an email regarding Race the Sun 2014 and decided to give it a go.”

Alan’s wife Sue and five year old daughter Ava, along with Neal’s wife Laura and sons Oliver 5 and Ethan 2 were at the finishing line to welcome the winning team.

He added;: We would like to thank Polaris for our fantastic kit and everybody that has donated to our fund raising efforts so far.”

Visit their fundraising page at http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/crazytrain.