Rugby stars ditch the pitch to take part in gruelling ‘quadrathlon’ for good causes
FORMER England rugby international Mike Tindall has described a gruelling charity quadrathlon as “probably the hardest thing” he has ever done.
Tindall, 36, and ex-Scottish international scrum half Rory Lawson were among around 300 people who took part in the Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon by Loch Tay in Perthshire.
The challengers took on a 1.35km swim, followed by a 24km run, an 11km kayak and a 54km cycle, finishing by slicing a watermelon in half with a sword.
The duo completed Satur- day’s event in 13 hours and 50 minutes, having set off at 6am, finishing 82nd.
Tindall, who was cheered on by wife Zara Phillips, said: “It’s probably the hard- est thing I’ve ever done. In terms of the running, I don’t think you can ever train for that. It is 24km of climbing very steep hills followed by massive down hills. I was cramping after six miles.
“It got worse and worse – you finish the run and you don’t know how you’re going to finish everything else.”
The former Bath and Gloucester player, who was a member of the 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning squad, has been training for the event since appearing in Channel 4’s The Jump and ITV’s Bear Grylls: Mission Survive earlier this year.