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Mark and Graham completed the Coast to Castle challenge on Saturday 23rd June, they cycled from Newcastle to Edinburgh over 3 days and battled against a headwind most of the journey!

Leg 1 – Newcastle to Seahouses

Leg 2 – Seahouses to Dunbar

Leg 3 – Dunbar to Edinburgh

Here are just some of our lovely clients who completed the 2018 Blaydon Race.  The Blaydon Race is an annual event and is a serious road race, the overall distance is 5.6 miles and starts in Newcastle City Centre and finishes at the playing fields on Shibdon Road in Blaydon.

A massive well done to Gillian, Graham and Lou who all completed the Ponteland Triathlon on Sunday 29th April 2018.  This is just one of many events that these guys have signed up for this year.

They all put 100% into their training here at SPARK Health and are constantly pushing past their limits!

Another amazing achievement!

The Mad March Mare is an event held at Hexham Race Course and is a 10k obstacle course, which is held on the first Saturday in March.The first event was held in 2015 and Team SPARK decided to enter a team.  There were 8 of us who took part and for some of us were the toughest challenge we had faced on our health & fitness journey.  The team did great and many faced their fears head on. 2016 saw the team grow to 12 as some of our clients were inspired by the previous year’s team.

Then came 2017, wow this year was just unreal we entered a team of 35 and the course was the toughest yet with an increase in the obstacles to 30.  Our team of trainers had also grown to 4 who all took part and managed to stay with their group the whole way to help support and encourage each one of our clients to get around the course face their biggest fears/challenges and cross that finish line.

All 35 completed the course and to say we are proud of how many of our clients entered and completed the course is an understatement.  Some clients and even some our trainers hadn’t done anything like this before.  For some of us there were obstacles to be conquered that hadn’t been the previous 2 years, to this being achieved on the 3rd year was fantastic.

With 2018 MMM bring cancelled due to the ‘Beast from the East’ the organisers made this years MMM even tougher with 40 obstacles.  Team SPARK absolutely smashed it again and even though it was challenging we had lots of laughs along the way.

We are super proud of everyone!

September 2016 came around quick and as you can imagine Jo was extremely nervous, she had started her journey with us over 23 stone (over 26 stone initially) and was now at the start line of the GNR over 10 stone lighter. Her aim to complete the course without stopping no matter how long it took. Jo crossed the line in under 2 hours 40 minutes raising over £600 for FACT in the process and ran the whole way. Was it tough…. Absolutely but seeing Jo cross the line was great.

In 2016 Graham Pinder decided that he wanted to complete the GNR, Graham is a gentleman in his early 50’s and started training with us as he felt a little out of shape and wanted to improve his health & fitness. Graham trained so hard and was so motivated he put 100% into everything he did. Not surprising he completed the GNR in under 2 hours.  This is an outstanding time and we couldn’t be any prouder of his achievements, in his words he’s in the best shape of his life.

The Paras 10-mile TAB is a multi-terrain endurance event (TAB stands for Tactical Advance to Battle). The Parachute Regiment challenges you to attempt the 10 Mile ‘P’ Company Cross Country Route, carrying a Bergen (rucksack) weighing 35lb (excluding food water) and wearing long trousers with ‘military style’ or hiking boots with ankle support. Competitor’s rucksacks are weighed before and after the race, by race officials.

In 2016 Mark decided that this was to be another challenge for him to undertake just 1 week before he was to complete the GNR. Mark’s training consisted of running and Tabbing with a 35lb Bergen on his back. The training schedule was gruelling but nothing compared to the actual event. Mark completed the event in just over 2 hours the last mile being the toughest as his knees started to hurt and he got cramp in his calf’s and hamstrings. This was an outstanding achievement considering that this event was nothing like anything he had taken part in before.

In Marks own words “That last mile took me to a dark place!!”.

For a lot of our clients running is something that they haven’t even considered. It’s not just a case of not considering it it’s a lot to with confidence too. We have had a number of our ‘First Steps’ clients who would never have dreamt that they could run down the street let alone run 5k in aid of a great charity.

First to Steps to Fitness has given clients not only the fitness to take part in this event but the confidence to even contemplate doing it.

SPARK Health & Fitness really is for everyone!

In June 2017 eight clients and one of our trainers took part in the Druridge Bay Triathlon, they trained together when they could and supported each other leading up to the event. The event was a sprint triathlon and consisted of a 750-metre swim in open water, a 12-mile bike ride and a 5k run. This was a huge challenge for the team and each of them had their own personal reasons for wanting to take on the challenge.

They all completed the course and some of the team even went on to sign up to further triathlons and are already planning on signing up for next year’s Druridge Bay event.