Rauri pushes himself to the limit in memory of his late friend Stef

WINDING descents, misty mornings and tired limbs weren’t enough to deter Rauri Hadlington from his challenge which saw him push himself to the limit in Japan in memory of his friend Stef. Last Monday August 22, London resident Rauri set off on his Long Week to Japan challenge in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The challenge saw him complete a 1,000 km cycle from Magano to Lake Toya in Japan before taking on Ironman Japan which consisted of a 3.8 km swim, 180.2 km cycle and 42.2 km run in three days. Rauri took on the challenge to celebrate the memory of his friend Stefan Minoru Bennett, who sadly passed away in 2014 after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease. It also served as a fundraiser. At the time of writing, Rauri had raised €9,260.75 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and was on his way to reaching his €10,000 target. Rauri, who is the son of owners of Archways B and B Chris and Eileen, carried out much of his training in Wexford. One of his favourite places to train was Mount Leinster and he would regularly make the trip home in between working as a physiotherapist in London. ‘Rauri has done a brilliant job. He’s completely wrecked right now but that’s what he is used to. He was an rugby player when he was in school. I used to train him at 5.30 a.m. six days a week so he is used to a fair amount of pain!’ laughed Chris. ‘He is very close to reaching his target as of this morning. We know he will smash it and deservedly so.’ According to Chris, guests in their Rosslare B and B have been very generous with their donations on hearing of their son’s challenge.