11 middle aged lawyers, 30 miles of the toughest terrain in South England, and visibility down to 30 meters.  Who was responsible?  Tom Rendell, of course.

The aim was to follow the route of the final test for all Commando forces, the formidable 30 miler.  And to raise money for Headway, the brain injury charity, http://www.headway.org.uk/home.aspx.

Lyons Davidson LLP, under the leadership of former Royal Marine, and long-term client of PT-Troop, Trevor Still, set themselves the ambitious target of rasing £100, 000 this year for the charity. 

Tom Rendell agreed to lead the group around this challenge.  Navigation and group cohesion were very challenging from the start – the visibitly meant Tom had to follow a straight line compass bearing though “Galvin Mire”, and area riddled will deep mud, and lumpy tussocks of grass, meaning the group all went up to their knees at least in filth.  8 miles into the yomp, we pinpointed Scorhill Circle without the aid of GPS,  and were refreshed by the support crew.

The second leg was perhaps the most demanding, physically, mentally and navigationally due to the continued fog.  A series of false summits known to Royal Marines as “The Rollercoaster” continued for over 4km.  On our arrival at Bennetts Cross, we were an hour behind schedule, but everyone was determined to catch up.

The arrival of the sun, plus some easier terrrain assisted this no end, and moralle soared as the group grew in confidence.

Some hours later, we descended off the open moor as the sun set, having got everyone around safely and before dark!

Many thanks to Jo McDonnell for including PT-Troop in a fun and succesfull fundraiser on Fri 8th Oct.

Jo was succesfully treated for breast cancer in 2009, and has since raised nearly £20,000 for research into the disease.

PT-Troop hosted 59 of the chattiest women in Bristol, and 2 men who we felt were particularly brave.  The event was run at the same time as our scheduled circuit class, meaning our regular attendees could come along and make a donation in addition to getting their normal training.

It was apparent that herding Clifton’s mummies would be a challenge – the first shuttle on the bleep test (a fast walk to start with), was greeted with shrill complaints from nearly every participant.  Some though, military discipline and sense of urgency was restored to the class as Tom Rendell and Russ Kent barked out orders and issued punishments for excess chat or tardy bimbling after water breaks.

The participants took part in a whole body workout, including some sprinting, legs and abs toning and some marshall arts drills…

PT-Troop is delighted to have helped such a good cause.