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BESTFIT Issue 13 – Weekender

BESTFIT Issue 13 – Weekender

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la-vidaThe La Vida team teach sustainable weight loss methods alongside high intensity pound-shifting workouts, They cater for all fitness levels with carefully planned fitness programmes designed by ex-military training staff. Get ready to sweat, with daily beach workouts, circuit training, Resistance training and much more.

It’s not just about hard work, though. All stays also include luxury accommodation (villas boast deluxe en-suite rooms and heated pool), nutrition workshops and outdoor activities such as hiking, aqua biking and paddle boarding.

la-vida-infoFor hen parties of six of more, La Vida can host a private and unique week. The bridal party can choose from a rigorous week focused on weight loss, or a more relaxed stay consisting of pampering afternoons, whatever you need to help you look your best on the big day. You can also tailor your stay with further excursions and activities to ensure a special experience. Book before the end of August and you can enjoy a 10% early bird discount. There are also further discounts for group bookings. The next Boot Camp runs from October 3-10.

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The hilly, multi-terrain course takes you through various quaint South Yorkshire villages before heading back towards Cannon Hall Country Park. Putting into place full road closures, this route offers marshals and medical provisions at regular intervals along the way, as well as a half-way water station. The licensed race also offers professional chip timing for those keeping track of their progress, and there are plenty of prizes up for grabs, including a head snood for all those that take part.

Cannon-hall-infoTo make sure everyone is kept entertained, there is also a 2km fancy dress fun run taking place around the Cannon Hall Museum gardens after the main race. Open to anyone over 5 years old, this run is designed for families looking to include the little ones, as well as anyone wanting to raise some sponsorship whilst having a few laughs doing so. All fun runners will receive a medal and a goodie bag, giving even more reason to join in. So whether you’re looking for a new personal best, or just a good time with friends and family, the Cannon Hall Run offers something for everyone.

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The shortest route is 67 miles whilst the standard route is 80 miles; the longest route – also known as the ‘Epic’ – is 94 miles. The highest elevation reached for both the short and standard route is 1,020ft. whilst the Epic reaches 1,017ft. This also means that all three routes include plenty of inclines and declines, and therefore remain challenging for all participating cyclists. All three routes start from Kirkley Hall and head into the Northumberland National Park, before entering into the Harwood Forest where the short route splits off. The other routes carry on along the Simonside Hills, after which the Epic route splits off to complete an extra loop towards Kirkland Forest, before rejoining to cross the Rayless Common, Corsenside Common, Troughend Common, Hareshaw Common and Chester Common.

wiggle-contentThe event itself will provide full route marking to make sure no one gets lost amongst the beautiful countryside. Electronic chip timing and a web results service will also be available, for anyone keeping track of their progress. So for anyone looking for a quiet, picturesque yet challenging event to join, this may be the one for you.

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total-war

As we set off through the yellow smoke grenades and the cheers from the spectators, the course hit hard within the first few minutes with a series of tough zigzagging hill reps. This split up the starting pack just in time for the first batch of obstacles; hurdles, barbed wire crawls, chest deep murky water crossings and a scramble through knee-deep energy sapping mud amongst fallen trees.

We took our time here to enjoy ourselves, regroup as a team and take in the surroundings of this great venue, so the running aspect didn’t seem as exerting. The beauty of these types of events is that you can choose your own difficulty level, depending on whether you’re running to compete individually for time, or to enjoy a great day out with your teammates.

The most memorable obstacle of the day for me was the traverse slanted wall over a water ditch, known as Swinger or Straight, with an option of either a couple of hanging ropes to reach out to, or climbing wall holds to help you journey across. Total Warrior has said this obstacle has a first-time success rate of 33%, yet thanks to marshalling this obstacle all of the previous day I was able to pick up the best techniques and get across without an issue.

Something I’d not experienced in OCR before was the Sprint King challenge, which was a 100m sprint section between two sensor mats and timed separately. This was both brutal and brilliant, as I opted for the increased difficulty level of sprinting all out and clocked a time of 16 seconds.

More highlight obstacles include the Grand National (a series of increasingly high walls up to 10ft), Human BBQ (a jump over fire into a deep muddy swamp), Slideaway (a 120ft downhill slip-n-slide aided by a squirt of fairy liquid) and The Plunge (a fully-submerged dunk into water chilled by tons of ice).

Verdict? This event did not disappoint on any level. It made great use of the impressive venue, with a challenging course terrain, every type of mud imaginable and all packaged with seamless event management. It’s ideal for all abellie-hallsworthilities, which is why it attracts thousands of runners, particularly first-time racers. There are now six Total Warrior events at three different venues each year. Check out the Total Warrior website for details of the upcoming races www.totalwarrior.co.uk

Want to be part of something completely new? Total Warrior is bringing a race up to Edinburgh’s Balgone Estate for the first time on September 12 and 13.

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