The life and less ordinary times of LDC

By Mark Beaumont and Rob Pendleton

Week one of the record attempt has not been without some success…rowing 701 miles and staying ahead of World Record time being top of this list…but sea sickness, fatigue, bruising and blisters…and a distinct lack of trade wind support has put the crew of Sara G under extreme pressure.

Starting their row from Tarfaya at 1pm on the 2nd January despite a last minute customs hitch the crew were out of the traps pretty quick completing over 100 miles in their first day. Thereafter progress was hindered by difficult seas and a lack of wind support.

A number of the team suffered from sea sickness which hampered their ability to eat and sleep (and row effectively). Each team member will use up to 12,000 calories every 24 hours but with the crew unable to eat more than 2,000 calories a day during the first few days this placed a strain on the team’s strength. Whilst the ‘getting your sea legs’ aspect was expected the severity of the first few days was not!

The team have now settled into their 2 hours on 2 hours off routine with the sessions during the night proving to be the most difficult psychologically. Rowing in the dark with your back to the direction of the boat and not being able to fully see the direction of the waves has been pretty disconcerting for the crew.

Simon, Aodhan and Matt

The Atlantic Odyssey challenge has already attracted the attention of a large following not least of which because they have been able to send back regular voice blogs (courtesy of iPadio), and take part in a number of phone-ins (particularly with Heart FM Breakfast show – as they are undertaking the row in support of Heart’s Childline appeal), and Mark continues to blog for the The Independent Online.

The description of the first few days was summed up by crew member Ian Rowe who described tjhe journey thus far: “Think of a washing machine, place a boat in it and turn it on, then bash your legs and knees with a baseball bat…now you have some idea of what it has been like!”

The journey is compelling and can be followed at www.atlantic-odyssey.comand via their http://twitter.com/AtlanticOdyssey. Please send messages of support to them via their Get In touch section and any donations to Childline would be most welcome.

By Mark Beaumont and Rob Pendleton

L-R: Matt, Aodhan, Simon, Yaacov, Ian, Mark

At 1pm on the 2nd January the Atlantic Odyssey crew set off on their East – West Atlantic row record attempt from Tarfaya in Morocco to Barbados.

They are attempting to row across the 3,000 miles of ocean in less than 30 days!

The team of Matt Craughwell (skipper), Mark Beaumont, Ian Rowe, Simon Brown, Yaacov Mutnikas and Aodhan Kelly play to row 100 nautical miles a day, via a strict regime of 2 hours on and 2 hours off the oars. Clearly this is not for the faint hearted and one that will test the mental and physical reserves of all those involved.

To put this all in perspective, the first ocean row was undertaken by two Norwegians, Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo, who rowed an open wooden boat from New York to France in 1896, but it would be another seventy years before the next ocean row in 1966, when John Ridgeway and Sir Chay Blythe succeeded in rowing from Newfoundland to Ireland.

And amazingly up until 1988, only 19 people had ever rowed an ocean.  Now, there have been over 500 but strangely 321 of these have been Britons – so it seems that the adage ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ applies to the whole of our island!  For 500 people to have rowed an ocean sounds quite a lot, until you consider that over 3000 people have stood on the top of Mount Everest!

Sara G in Agadir

The first ocean rows were undertaken without any modern technologies and communications.  They had to carry all the water they needed for their entire journeys and were truly tenacious and pioneering voyages.  Gerard d’Aboville (1896-1982), who rowed the Atlantic, once said about these early crossings, ‘We were like test pilots, but without a parachute.’

The crew on this record attempt will be rowing in ‘Sara G’ an 11 metre boat, and the vessel in which the current world record was set.

The crew for his present challenge were selected from nine rounds of sea trials that began in April 2011. Their attempt will be fuelled by each crew member consuming between 5000 and 6000 calories every day, while expending somewhere close to 12,000 calories a day.

The team’s website said of the challenge: “Of the countless teams that have taken to the Atlantic trying to set the fastest time ever, the sub-30 day barrier has so far remained elusive. The first team to break this barrier will achieve, what has seemed for many involved, the unassailable mark in the sport’s history. We have a huge range of experience in the boat and come from many different backgrounds, but the stand-out fact for each member is their rowing history.”

Over the course of the journey the crew will be sending back regular blogs and pictures, and Mark will be writing exclusively for The Independent.  In addition the crew will be able to send back brief voice messages through iPadio. To hear Matt’s departure messages click here:

Atlantic Odyssey Channel – 5th phonecast http://ipad.io/niV

Full details about the attempt can be tracked via www.Atlantic-odyssey.com and their dedicated twitter feed http://twitter.com/AtlanticOdyssey

By Meghan Beesley, UK athlete and 2012 Olympics hopeful, supported by LDC.

Winter training is going really well for me this year! It’s the first time I have not been held back by any injuries or rehab so I am feeling fitter than ever. 

In September we all have a nice break from training. This is the time of the year where I can do as please and eat what I want without feeling guilty! This year I went to Rhodes with my friend Abi! We met some good friends there who were nice, and I came back with a great tan. 

Then it is back into hard training which is always a shock. During October and the start of November I did mostly general fitness which included longer runs (such as 30 minutes), circuits, grass running (which is interval training of between 1 and 3 minutes) and Fartlek (running on a muddy field for about 90 minutes doing different speeds). This is the first year in a while I have been able to complete all these training sessions so actually enjoyed it for the first time ever.

Over the past 6 weeks we have started doing some Hurdles technical work (which always breaks up training as this is fun) and our lactic tolerance sessions which is very important for 400m running. These lactic sessions are usually between 200m and 400m, and an example of this would be 2 sets of 3x300m. This is the big sessions we do in the week and everyone gets very nervous for this as we have target times given to us by Coach Dakin.

This time last year we were really struggling with the weather and the track had been iced over for weeks but so far the weather has been kind to us. So hopefully January will be as nice as this year I am not going warm weather training. 

I am looking forward to Christmas as we do have slightly easier sessions for the week between Christmas and New Year although we don’t have an actual break. This year as Christmas Day off as it’s a Sunday, but our group always have a Sunday off every week. Not sure what happens next year as its Tuesday. 

Only another month and the indoor season will have started which I am really looking forward to as I had to miss it last year. I will be sharpening up my hurdling and concentrating on sprint hurdles. My first race will be at Loughborough, it is always nice to compete on my home track. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Editors Note: Supported by LDC Meghan Beesley is a promising 400m hurdles and 4 x 400m relay runner. She has represented England, most recently at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi where with the relay team she earned a silver medal, and with training is aiming to be part of the Great Britain team at the London 2012 Olympics.

By Mark Beaumont (Adventurer, author, expedition cameraman, speaker) 

On New Year’s Eve, as you toast the start of 2012, spare a thought for a small boat and six men setting out across the Atlantic Ocean!  Once again, I am embarking on a journey that’s very viability is doubted by many. We aim to be the first to row across the Atlantic in less than a month. And once again, LDC are a part of the team.

LDC shares my level of ambition and enterprise – they have backed my expeditions over the past five years and it has been great sharing the trials and ultimate successes. Expeditions and documentary making are a very different world to private equity, but we share the same ambition in making big ideas happen.

You can follow our teams progress over the 3,000 miles from Morocco to Barbados through www.atlantic-odyssey.com from where you can see the progress map, hear our audio updates and read my blogs for the Independent.  You can also follow the whole campaign on twitter @AtlanticOdyssey or on Facebook at ‘AtlanticOdyssey‘.

The bare facts are that we will be rowing in 2 teams of 3, on 2 hour continuous shifts – so we will be sleeping for less than 2 hours at any time and will each be rowing 12 hours a day.  During the month’s crossing we expect to lose between two and three stones of weight each – it’s impossible to replenish all the energy we will use.  We are unsupported and will be relying on daily weather reports to find the strongest patches of trade winds to ensure the fastest crossing.  We have a fast boat and an experienced crew, but to break the 30 day barrier for the first time relies on the weather playing its part!

Enjoy following the campaign over the coming months and here’s hoping we have reason for a big welcome home, ‘World Record’ holder’s party in February (we hope!), which you will be welcome to.

Note: The full story can be followed at www.atlantic-odyssey.com or via twitter on @AtlanticOdyssey (hashtag #Atlantic3000); and Mark’s personal online feed is via twitter: @MrMarkBeaumont and on his web site http://www.markbeaumontonline.com/

Just when you all thought it was safe to go out in the city centres of Britain…LDC had their National Charity Quiz…and what a night it turned out to be!

The combined quiz brains of the business communities in Leeds, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Reading, Nottingham and Birmingham came together to support LDC’s 2011 charities…and what a result they achieved.

It is estimated that Camp Mohawk,  The Grand Appeal, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, KidsCan, CHAS, FriendshipWorks, When You Wish Upon A Star and Hollybank will share in the  proceeds – which includes a number of generous donations from participants and a number of local businesses…and is estimated to be in the region of £80,000

There are a large number of people and companies we’d like to thank for the support, and in particular:

• Intercontinental Brands provided an i-pad and several bottles of Cactus Jack! 
• The Blackhouse Grill donated a dinner for two.
• Opus Restaurant and Primitivo Restaurants donated meal vouchers in Birmingham
• Prizes from JLT Group, The ComplEat Food Group, Modelzone, Nando’s, Ice Bar, and Gauchos.
• The Savoy in London donated an overnight stay plus  an afternoon tea (and our thanks to Lloyds Banking Group Joint Ventures for organising this)
• Four ball at Archerfield was donated by David Orr and HEROtsc
• Marussia Virgin Racing donated a large amount of signed clothing
• Four ball and lunch at Gullane (thank you to Stuart Roberts from Quayle Munro)
• Donation of afternoon cocktails from Hotel du Vin
• Four ball at Dalmahoy
• Prizes also from the Hilton and The Lowry Hotels  in Manchester, and IRC Plc.
• The Jazz cafe, Reading – dinner for 2
• Yann Souillard, LDC’s MD in the South, donated his flat in Spain for 2 weeks
• LDC South donated themselves – to cook a 3 course meal with drinks and ‘entertainment’ …which we are slightly worried about…esp. the ‘entertainment’ aspect!

We’d also like to thank Mark Beaumont for adding some credibility to the Edinburgh sports round, and at the Nottingham event Gem 106′s Breakfast Hosts Sam and Amy read the quiz questions….and considering they had to be up at 4am the next day for their day job this was a great effort!

And in Manchester we’d like to send an extra special thanks to Pam who retired from KidsCan earlier this year but came along to support the event.

Oh and it is worth mentioning that there was an outright winner and worthy regional winners…the roll of honour is below…and congratulations to everyone who supported…onward to next year!

• National Winner (and Regional Winner) was : PwC’s Bucks Quiz team
• Edinburgh Winner: Chris Stewart Group’s Hoof Hearted
• Leeds Winner: RBS’s In-Quiz-itors
• Manchester Winner: Clearwater
• Reading Winner: Osborne Clarke’s Neurozone Crisis
• Nottingham Winner: RBS’s Layzee Boyz
• London Winner: Eversheds

Thank you to everyone from LDC for your support and generosity – we can’t run these events without you! And we promise to make the questions easier next year…although there will still be a few tough ones in the pack to make the teams reach for blackberrys/iphones!