AFTER RACE DAY

'Dear Team Jacko Supporters,

Sincere apologies for the delay in getting back to you all post-race day – I’m sure that you have all been on the edge of your seats ever since….or maybe not!

Race day dawned with us feeling fresh and confident, despite the trans-European schlep in the 1.2 Polo – which wasn’t brilliant but definitely better than a slatted seat in a 4 tonner from Aldershot to Otterburn, as it was back in the day. A fairly daunting start to the race as the first third of the course towered directly above us for straight 1000m up to the first check point at the 7km mark but just as well that we couldn’t also see the rest of the course as it only got worse from there and the top third was truly vertiginous. However, a bit of Reg grit, fear of failure and the thought of letting you lot down kept us powering on through and I am delighted to be able to say that the race was completed successfully in good style.

Ben and I ran as a team throughout and turned in what we thought was a very respectable time of 3:37 which put us safely in the top half of the finishers in the men’s race and gusting top third overall. The altitude was not actually the problem which we had feared and we both reckon that we could have knocked off a further 15 mins had we not played it so safe in the early stages - but then again maybe not, it really was a hell of a course that thoroughly lived up to its’ reputation in terms of gradient, terrain, endurance, and exposure. Overall, the race was both an excellent experience and an extremely well organised event which I would highly recommend to anybody who is into this sort of thing.

One last huge thank you to everybody who helped and donated, you are all true Reg-supporting Legends. One last big shout out too to a certain tall Dutch friend who, 36 hours before race day, and after one too many whiskies, offered to donate a four-figure sum if we could both break the 4 hour mark – to be fair to him, I didn’t look at that point like a guy who might manage it, so it must have seemed like a fair bet! True respect to him for making good on that wager in the cold light of day, which means that once Gift Aid is taken into account, we will likely clear the £5k barrier – of which every penny will directly and immediately benefit our awesome serving Reg troopers, their families, and our esteemed ‘old and bold’ Airborne veterans. Please keep in comms and up to speed with all the other ally, crazy stuff which our people get up to in support of SOP at www.supportourparas.org.

Thanks again and UP.'

FINAL UPDATE

Jacko & Ben

Dear awesome Inferno Supporters

‘H Hour cometh’ and as you read this Ben and I will be sallying forth on the Harwich ferry on Tuesday night and then winging our way to CH ready for Inferno Race Day on Saturday. I say ‘winging’, only our awesome, autobahn-slaying, mile-munching Volvo stealth panzer just went U/S on the starting grid - feck. More U/S in fact than an RAF transport aircraft in Vegas on a Friday afternoon. As a result, we will now be unexpectedly schlepping across Europe in my daughter Alex’s redoubtable 1.0 VW Polo instead - so wheezing rather than winging. Maybe our slower progress will assist in the acclimatisation process…

All good otherwise I think though; we have timed-out on training now and so ‘we are where we are’ – either the Suffolk Alps did the trick or they didn’t! From experience, it feels like we have got it about right - we are feeling strong, we are injury-free (ish), the new shoes have arrived (thank God) and the met currently looks favourable, if a tad hot, and we are certainly now fully focused on the big hill ahead of us, so I reckon that we are ‘good to go’. Nothing we can do about acclimatisation, truly the elephant in the room, but rest assured that we will be taking it very steady on the day - the main effort is to have fun together and finish the thing, not smash any records. Hold that thought and wait out for a Race Day SITREP…

All that remains to be said is just a huge and heartfelt Airborne ‘thank you’ from us both to all of you for all your support, kind words, advice and, most importantly, your cold hard dosh!! Every penny of which will be deployed for maximum benefit in support of this nation’s awesome paratroopers and their families, both past and present. Your generosity has been truly humbling, and no more so than the simply mind-blowing benevolence of the amazing Wal and Weezy, who donated the eye-watering sum of a whole £1k to boot our previous £2k target firmly into orbit; Wal and Weezy - thank you both so very much indeed from us both, we cannot thank you enough for that amazing gesture – ‘’leading from the front and by example" in true Reg tradition. In fact, Ben is so grateful that apparently he will now put in another cheeky quick rep of the Schilthorn for you…! But one big old brick doesn’t make a wall, so thank you equally wholeheartedly to all those legends who donated over the last few months, from the mighty John McDonald who first got the ball rolling to my very dear friend Koos who donated just yesterday – and who will hopefully be standing by on the summit of the Schilthorn with a couple of cold beers ready for when we finish on Saturday afternoon…inshallah.

UP!

Ben & Jacko

JULY 2023 UPDATE

"Dear SOP Inferno Supporters,

Wow - what to say? Your awesome generosity and stalwart commitment to the noble Reg cause has been simply peerless - we salute you. A special shout out to our loyal and good SOP friend over the pond, Randy, who pitched in to finally tip us over the £2k target last week. We really never saw ourselves hitting the 2k mark to be honest, and we have decided that we would see it as both disingenuous and insulting to your generosity this far if we were to ratchet up the online target again, so we want to leave it as it is, ceiling comprehensively smashed, whilst of course being equally grateful for any more donations which might trickle in to further crank up the overall total any higher. However, if we could inch it up to £2150 then that would be nice, as that would represent one pound for every metre of height which we will gain on the day. Rest assured your support is as timely and relevant as ever – this week alone has seen SOP deal with cases of depression, suicide and a 98-year-old ex-Reg Normandy veteran forced out of his home and into a hostel; you may have seen that one in the media. Grateful for all those now pitching in as support crew, especially Jody at ‘Fight or Perish’ for the awesome warm kit which he has donated. We will be honoured to wear the FOP logo alongside ours – ally kit!

Time now to concentrate instead on repaying that generosity and justifying your trust in us by performing to the best standard that we can in the actual race itself. So how is that all going? Well, pretty well I reckon but I think it’s fair to say that we have both now properly got ‘the fear’ too! As we know, a bit of fear is always a good motivator and guaranteed to keep you sharp! At least Ben is now back from Uni, so we can properly train together for this last 4 weeks. He is strong and running hard - I have been using every old PTI trick in the book to try and stay ahead of him. You know the score - speeding up after gates and stiles, lying about the route and distance, taking unexpected turns, asking him searching questions just before we hit a nasty hill etc. All to no avail though, he is taking all my skulduggery with good humour and then still caning me! Now at 60 miles a week, always pushing the pace hard to get the heart and lungs going more, in a probably vain attempt to in some way mitigate the lung-melting effects of altitude that will hit us when we actually arrive in CH – yeah, ok, wish us good luck with that. Still injury free though – well mostly, there’s always some minor niggle for me to worry about but hey, that’s pretty much standard in any ex-paratrooper!

UP!"

Jacko and Ben

JUNE 2023 UPDATE

"Dear All

I wanted to thank you all for your amazing generosity in supporting us for the Inferno, the response has been awesome and truly humbling so I reckoned that we owed you a quick SITREP.

Tempus fugit and all of a sudden we are D-60 out from race day - time, tide and H Hour wait for no man. Rest assured that we are fully earning your support by beasting ourselves accordingly! We are now a few pounds lighter and ramping up the mileage, currently gusting 50 plus miles a week but balancing that with the risk of injury at this late stage. Lack of in-country acclimatisation time worries me, so I have been upping the number of fast paced sessions, maxing the hill reps here in the ‘Suffolk Alps’ and using the bergen on the hills as well, which has me breathing in air from Clacton so that is definitely achieving the aim.

Ben is still at Uni in Southampton, so pounding the New Forest trails daily and smashing the South Downs inclines when he can. Ultimately though, we don’t arrive in CH until 72 hours before race day so, no matter what, I am expecting to have to dig in and ‘Reg it out’ to be honest.

Thanks again for your support, every penny that you give us goes directly to support our nation’s awesome Reg troopers, both serving and retired.

UP, Jacko"

The Inferno ski race, held every January in Murren, Switzerland since 1928, is the worlds longest and oldest downhill ski event, established over a century ago and globally renowned as a must do for all serious skiers.

These days though the Devil has a further and even nastier sting in his tail, a summertime Alpine challenge which our CEO Andy Jackson will be taking on this year with his son Ben, all in aid of Support Our Paras.

The Inferno Half Marathon takes place every August and challenges runners to tackle the same ski route - but in reverse and uphill. This gruelling race starts in the bottom of the epic Lauterbrunnen valley and climbs relentlessly upwards to the top of the Schilthorn, whose cable car station was made famous as Blofelds mountain-top lair in the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and which sits at a top altitude of almost 3000m (10000ft) above sea level.

Overall, the route boasts an eye-watering total height gain of over 2100m (7000 ft) of ascent within a course just 21 km (13 miles) long, all conducted at lung-busting Alpine altitudes. The course also contains some truly brutal climbs, with the final 8km (5 miles) having a whopping 1350m (4400ft) of gain, with 400m of this climb being in the last 1.5km. Hell on Earth indeed