Richard feels the Burn!

25th October 2010

Richard Parks continued his training for his world first 737 Challenge yesterday competing in Cardiff Burn, a new multi sport event in Cardiff, Wales.

Richard completed the 10k run, 42k bike and 3k kayak with his friend Hefin on a beautiful sunny day in the welsh capital.

“It was an awesome event and there was a really good vibe and camaraderie amongst the competitors” stated Richard, “We couldn’t have asked for better weather and water conditions!”

Richard, who has spent the last few weeks recovering from a gruelling expedition to Cho Oyu in the Himalayas ran the Cardiff Half Marathon last weekend and completed the Burn in a time of 3 hours and 11 mins yesterday.

The race began running a circuit around the Bay, over the famous Cardiff Barrage, with Richard winding his way around the historic buildings and monuments of Cardiff Bay in search of check points.

Then Richard transitioned in Cardiff Bay for the 42k mountain bike section on to his new Giant Anthem bike. After venturing up to Caerphilly mountain along the Taff Trail he then set off on the forest section phase with some steep climbs and fast single track descents. “I’m very grateful to Giant for their support as the Anthem was really fast and made the forest section a lot more fun!”

Back in the Bay Richard and Hefin exchanged bikes for kayaks for the final stage where they negotiated a course of buoys on double sit-on-top kayaks.

“It get’s hard sometimes training so intensely on my own, especially coming from a team sport, but the Cardiff Burn was just the boost I needed. Multi sport training sessions are prefect to prepare for days on the mountain as you use several different muscle groups, the bonus is it’s a lot more fun too and allows you to train for longer!” Richard finally added; “It’s just a shame that I’ll be away for the other Burn series in Wales and will have to wait until next October for the Cardiff Burn again, I’ve booked my place already though!”