To join in the spirit of our fundraising, I’ve come up with my own personal challenge. It’s a bit extreme and probably reflects my growing sense of going “stir crazy” (as well as my obvious and extended mid-life crisis, of course).

In any case, and assuming no virus/injuries, on Friday May 1st I’ll attempt to row a marathon on my Concept 2 erg (42195m) immediately followed by 161km (100 miles) on my Wattbike. I’ll back myself with a £5000 “entry fee” and another £2000 if I do it under 8 hours (just possible, but pretty hard).

This is ambitious. Looking at the Concept 2 website it recommends training for a marathon over four months. I have truthfully not rowed on an erg for five years until last Sunday when I did 10k - which hurt quite a lot (I once did a marathon for Comic Relief but that was 17 years go). And memories of the dragon racing still haunt me. However, the bike should be “easier”…

Finally - apologies if this all sounds very self-indulgent. But like everybody else I am deeply struck by the tragedies and challenges out there. So, as with all our fundraising efforts, it’s really about doing a small bit to help. Any support for the madness would therefore be gratefully received, however modest. Photographic evidence of timings will be provided. It would be really good if we could get to £10k for this.