Chase The Sun Challenge

This exciting triathlon-style adventure challenge is now a regular feature on our events calendar. Teams aim to complete cycling, walking and canoeing sections of the challenge starting just before sunrise and aiming to finish before sunset – racing the sun! You will cycle 70km, hike to the summit of England’s second highest mountain – Helvellyn (950m) 9km and canoe a 4km course on Lake Thirlmere. Canoe experience is not essential.

From the start point in Greystoke village the first leg is 30km. Although mainly on road this section does include 9km of rough track along an old coach road. Our fully guided route takes you to the foot of Helvellyn where you will leave your bikes with our support team and head off on foot to the summit – a vertical height gain of over 818m from the start point. Then it’s back to the start point to retrieve our bikes covering a 6km route on A and B roads to Armboth car park at Thirlmere Reservoir where we complete our canoeing leg. Two person Canadian canoes and buoyancy aids are provided and once you’ve paddled the return route to the dam wall you’ll get on your bikes for a final dash back to Greystoke. This final cycling leg is on road and easy cycle trail with downhill, flat and some uphill climbs and 34km to the finish line where you can enjoy a celebratory drink at the Boot and Shoe!

Chase the Sun is an enjoyable adventure race achievable by people with a reasonable level of fitness, who are prepared to put in some extra training beforehand. The more you train, the more you will enjoy the challenge. It is a great incentive to train and get fit and an ideal charity fundraiser and/or team building event.

We recommend that in the lead-up to this challenge, participants work on building up their stamina with weekly cardio-vascular exercise of a minimum of 1 hour per day, 5 days per week to build up their calf + quad muscles. In addition, they should be doing a regular bike ride at least every couple of weeks building up to 50 miles distance circa 4 to 5 hours. We can help you prepare for this event – for  information about our  pre-selection / training day click here.