Simon Ellis after finishing the cycling leg of his triple marathon. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
EMILY IRELAND
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Masterton man Simon Ellis braved the elements on Monday, forging ahead with his triple marathon plans.
He rowed 42.2km on a rowing machine at home, before cycling, and then running the same distance.
It was a gruelling 12-hour effort, he said, but one that was worth it – he raised $1500 to be split among the Wairarapa Youth Charitable Trust, Masterton Foodbank, and Autism Wairarapa.
“The rowing bit was the great unknown because I hadn’t done anything close to that; the most I had done on the rowing machine was about 5km.”
He started the day at 8.30am and finished the triple marathon at 10.45pm, with some breaks in between.
Ellis battled the rain during his cycle and run, and even though his brain was “saying stop, stop, stop”, he kept going.
“Any sort of physical activity is 70 per cent physical and 30 per cent mental – you find out a lot about yourself.
“All through the run, I thought, what is my reaction going to be? Am I going to give an American-style yee-ha?
“I did actually plan to do that, but there wasn’t anyone to yee-ha at.
“Plus, by the end of it, I was just too knackered.
“I just dried off, tried to eat something, and went to bed.”
Ellis said the triple marathon was “well worth doing”.
“If you’ve got the determination to do something, and you put in the hard work, you can do it.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – I wouldn’t do it in the rain again though.”
He was happy to have been able to support his three chosen charities, “especially given the current climate”.
As a volunteer for Foodbank, his next mission would be to persuade supermarkets and food suppliers to sell food to foodbanks at wholesale prices, “because at the moment, they don’t”.
His Givealittle page is still open for people to donate to, https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/3-charities-3-marathons-1-day
