Dave Cornthwaite has just completed his 8th Expedition1000 adventure, after riding his ElliptiGO 2000 miles from England to France. He chose to cut short the expedition after picking up a back injury, however with 1000 miles already under his belt he still gets to tick off another item on his list. His partner in crime, GOTrekker Squash Falconer, continues to Paris alone. Meanwhile, Alastair Humphreys’ summer-solstice microadventure challenge blossomed into a big success, when his followers from all over the world crawled into a bivvy for a night on a mountain or in a field to mark the start of the summer. Find out more at alastairhumphreys.com
Over in the Americas, Nik Wallenda tightroped across the Grand Canyon-area gorge in a t-shirt and jeans. He walked the 1,400-foot long high-wire walk across a 1,500-foot tall gorge near the Grand Canyon on Sunday evening without a safety net or harness. Ultrarunners Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin have set off on a 2300km trek across the Gobi Desert. They are aiming to complete the run in thirty five days. You can follow their journey here.
As for finding some inspiration for your own endeavours, The Last Great Climb trailer is out! The film captures climber Leo Houlding Jason Pickles and Sean ‘Stanley’ Leary as they attempt to make the first ascent of the NE ridge of the Ulvetanna Peak. The film is set to be released in December. Full details are on thelastgreatclimb.com
Coming up in the next few weeks, Dr. Andrew Murray and Donnie Campbell will take off on an 18-day run across East Africa, covering more than 50km every day, including running up and down Mt Kenya and Mt Kilimanjaro. Ben Saunders has launched the Scott Expedition, in which he and Tarka L’Herpiniere will walk 1,800 miles unsupported to the South Pole. Sean Conway steps in at Land’s End on the 30th of June to attempt the 1000 mile swim to John O’Groats and ultrarunner Alex Flynn will race the Lavaredo Ultra Trail over the weekend a 118km race with a 31 hour cut off, while Helen Lloyd is off to Russia to begin a bike journey across Asia.
It looks like there is a busy summer ahead. More updates from the field next week.
Written by Orla O’Muiri @SidetrackedNews. Photography by Alastair Humphreys