naseba7 day 4: Simon’s guest blog

Swim: 1:01
transition: 15 minutes
Bike: 6:44
transition: 15 minutes
Run: 5:29

4^th IM 13:44

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Today was day 4 of the Naseba challenge.

First thing this morning there were a few nerves among the supporters as Scott’s calf had been giving him some pain the previous evening. There was a strong breeze blowing as he set off into the choppy waters following Danny in the kayak, there was definitely some tension amongst the group.

The tension was quickly relieved by Danny capsizing his kayak and thrashing around in the ocean whilst everyone pointed and laughed.

After another strong swim from Scott, Andy and I set of in the van with Mohamed, who by now has progressed to saying ‘Owight darlin’ (by the end of the week we aim to have him fully qualified as a London taxi driver) throughout the day Mohamed also evangelised about the high quality of wrestling shown on television and in particular his admiration of Hulk Hogan. I’m serious!

We tried various different angles to film and photograph from throughout the day, my favourite shot of the day was where Andy hung out of the back of one of the vehicles with his pale legs sticking in the air.

I took an excellent photo of this scene that he won’t let me use, he resembled a corpse that had been recovered from the bottom of a lake after several days, all bloated and pale. The look was topped off by the missing tooth that he has after tripping into the lift and knocking it out the previous morning.

Scott completed the bike whilst again looking strong and contending with some very busy roads towards the end of the 180 Kilometres.

Then it was another quick transition and he was out on to the run. Scott was obviously in pain throughout the run but it never looked as though the discomfort had a chance of denting his determination.

There are many things that are impressive about this challenge, but for me the most important is the attitude and approach that Scott has taken each day.

He has never had a break or a rest, he has never spent more than 10 minutes in transition, he has hardly walked a step, he has not got cross or become confused, he has just faced the challenge with humour and determination at every stroke, pedal and step.