Andy McMenemy on Challenge 66 and his Route to Success

Andy McMenemy recently announced that he would be running 66 ultra marathons in 66 days across 66 cities in Britain. It is a challenge that would be tough for any top class athlete at the peak of their fitness, so how does an average person in their forties with a day job as a motivational speaker decide to undertake such a gruelling task?

To find out why Andy is attempting to take on this Guinness World Record challenge you must first find out some more about the man. Having worked his way up the corporate ladder he suddenly lost his job and was left assessing what had happened to all of the goals he had set himself before his career inevitably took over his life.

Like many people who are faced with the prospect of not knowing where the next cheque will come from, Andy decided that it was time to take action. Unlike most of us who settle for a day of sending out résumés or browsing job sites for the role you always dreamed of, Andy settled upon the idea of running the Marathon des Sables.

Known as the toughest footrace in the world, this epic journey across the Sahara desert is designed to test you physically, but perhaps even more damaging is the effect it will have on the mind.

“It was five-and-a-half marathons in the space of six days across the toughest terrain imaginable,” describes the 48-year-old. “I had heard someone talking about completing the race and it had always stuck in my mind, and despite the fact I had not completed a marathon in 20 years I made the commitment to take on this challenge and registered my last �500 on the deposit to enter the race.”

After completing the Marathon of the Sands the next challenge was a 78-mile run in temperatures that reached 46�c by 11am which left Andy suffering from fatigue induced hallucinations and a crippling case of Rhabdomyolysis – the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle.

Once again, despite the sheer enormity of the task, Andy overcame all of the injuries, the moments of sheer exhaustion and the crippling doubts that he could ever reach the end, to cross the finish line in second place.

It was at 3am in the middle of the Namibian desert that Andy came up with the idea of his World Record breaking challenge. “I was reaching a really low point and I said to myself this isn’t the toughest thing in the world, you’ll be resting in a few hours and tomorrow you don’t have to do anything at all.

“I had read the book by Dean Karnazes about completing 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 cities in America and I thought to myself, I could do something similar. Once I got back to the UK I started doing some research and I found out that there are only 66 official cities in Great Britain. I think the seed had been planted in my mind and from that point on I knew that I wanted to take on this challenge.”

Choosing which charity to support was an easy decision for Andy. His father was a member of the armed forces and in his later years, while suffering from cancer, was supported by ABF The Soldiers Fund. A charity, celebrating its 66 year anniversary, which offers support to soldiers and veterans, as well as their families.

Making the sacrifice to train for such an epic challenge has meant spending time away from family members and instead getting the body ready for running 50km every single day for more than two months.

“It is a sacrifice and I am being selfish in terms of spending time away from the family, but it is for a fantastic cause and we are raising plenty of awareness about the charity,” explains Andy, who starts the challenge on March 16. “I wanted to rebalance my life and give it a sense of achievement and like I say it’s 85% mental and the rest is in your head.”

Endurance athletes often repeat the mantra, mind over matter, and that is exactly what Andy believes to be true. He is not thinking about dealing with the slight niggles or the blisters that can bring even the most experiences athlete to their knees. Instead he repeats the simple idea that he will take it 1 mile at a time.

“You have to break a marathon down into small parts, so for me it will be taking each days as it comes. I will try not to think too far ahead. My intention is to run six hours a day at 12 minutes per mile, so it will be a gentle pace. Then it all comes down to good quality nutrition, rest and recuperation. The recovery is probably the most important part of the challenge.”

Much like the astonishing achievement of Eddie Izzard who ran more than 1000 miles and completed the equivalent of 43 marathons, Andy knows that he needs to be mentally strong to complete this daunting task.

“Once you have done enough training then it is all about the mind over matter principle as you are forcing your body to do something it doesn’t want to do.”

So what happens when the energy reserves run out and you hit the wall? Every runner will experience this, but with Andy competing for 66 days on the trot he will encounter this problem on an almost daily basis.

“Once you get past your energy stores then the pain does start to take effect and it is about how you occupy your mind. This could be through visualisation. When I competed in Namibia I simply imagined an ice-cold beer at the finish line and that drove me on.”

It may sound like a simple concept but Andy guarantees that it has got him through some tough spots and is certain that over the next two months, as he attempts to raise �1million for The Soldiers Charity, it will once again motivate him to get to that finish line.


If you would like to support Andy on his epic challenge then please visit www.challenge66.org/support_us/get-involved