In order to raise the funds needed to put on a show at the Fringe, the Superteam have been taking part in a physical challenge to walk, swim and run the distance between the site of the World Premiere of Supertown and our performance venue at the Fringe.
All the money raised will be shared between the Supertown fund and Help for Heroes – to make sure we reward the real life heroes as well as Supertown’s finest!
As a member of the Superteam – I was worried (terrified). Exercise is NOT my thing. Ever since primary school when I chosen near to last for rounders (how anyone is supposed to hit the ball with that tiny bat is beyond me), to secondary school when I would do anything to get out of cross country running (a form of torture to all overweight girls with boobs anywhere) to Uni where I dabbled with the gym and then would have a takeaway as a reward, exercise has been my nemesis.
Yet, when I heard about this idea, I was determined to get fit for the fringe! I embarked on an enthusiastic and ill-informed training regime, including returning to swimming (the only place where you can’t hide your wobbly bits with strategically skimming clothes), long walks with my parents dog, and even the first ever run of my adult life (I won’t go into too much detail – suffice to say that even my brightly coloured trainers bought in good faith didn’t make it anything other than a grim trudge with pitying looks from my neighbours).
The first event was the swim, and I surprised everyone (mostly me) by swimming a whopping 2.5km in 2 hours:
(Apologies for subjecting you to me in swimwear – however I am still very proud! My arms ached for days afterwards, but I didn’t care! This was the first time I understood why people enjoy exercise)
Many of the Superteam do enjoy exercise (who can blame them when some of them have physiques like this):
(that’s right ladies – I am reliably informed that there is no padding in that suit)
and on the hottest day of the year (the hottest for almost 2 decades!) they took part in a training 5km run starting and ending at the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds:
Emma Stirk took part and said:
Having done some filming to advertise the show we were ready to start. With a dramatic countdown we were off. Myself, Dave and Poppy the dog were bringing up the rear with a sedate (not very) walk while the rest of the team ran ahead. We headed down towards the market following the directions given to us by the app Matt had requested we download. It wasn’t long before we were checking the map but we were soon on the right track and the distance we travelled started to increase. We had a few issues where our route was blocked but we managed to navigate our way round even stopping to advertise the show to one unsuspecting lady who wanted directions to the canal and ended up getting the hard sell for coming to see the show (she let slip that she lived in Edinburgh). We even managed to get a donation towards the show, whoop! By this point we were 3k into the journey and nearing the finish line. We could smell victory and some nasty garbage smells. By this point we were walking through some on the less nice parts of town and I was glad to have company. Pushing on we were on the home straight. We picked up the pace especially when we could see the rest of the team cheering us on. We had made it! Time for a well deserved drink in the pub.
The challenge I found the hardest was the the 15km walk.
Equipped with lots of bottles of water, my Supertown t-shirt and hoodie, and of course my trusty walking boots, I was feeling quietly confident. In the run up to this event I had taken part in lots of long walks to make sure I wouldn’t let the team down. What I hadn’t anticipated was the cracking pace set by Supertown’s loveable Supervillain, Dreadman. (Give him a boo at the Fringe for me!) Nonetheless we had a good day with a variety of weather conditions, and with a rather horrifying amount of blisters (I had a million, to the nearest million, and no don’t worry, I won’t show you, and I won’t be wearing sandals in the near future):
As you can see, I didn’t quite meet the 15km challenge due to unbearable blisters, but we endured nettles, blaring sun, and even torrential rain.
Finally, tomorrow – the big one. The Leeds 10km. I will be there (no! Not running! NEVER RUNNING! Helping out with water and cheering on my cast mates of course!) so look out for me in a Supertown t-shirt, come and say hello, and most importantly, help up to get to the Fringe!
http://www.gofundme.com/superdash
The people of Supertown will thank you!
movinginwithaboy 