Farm Fitness in Herefordshire

If you knew Kingsley O'Hearn even a little bit then none of what happened over the weekend of 23rd January would be a surprise to you.

It began on the Friday night with a late night car journey into the middle of the near-Welsh bundu. Conveniently, it was the beginning of a fortnight's worth of snow so mud, ice and cold was all that could be looked forward to as 25 people headed west. In true farmhouse style, there was a good beef stew on the hob on arrival to warm everyone as we all had a quick catch up. Warmth and comfort didn't last long though as we were all shepherded into Lyonshall village hall to set up beds on the floor. Bedding varied from full-blown raised double inflatable beds (the quick release valve of which was not missed by me at 5am!) to my pitiful 1mm thick roll mat and threadbare sleeping bag. In panic, a whip round was taken to keep the metred heating on for the night - ironically, my crap old and cold sleeping bag was perfect as the heating blared all night and roasted everyone testing out their newly bought -10 degree arctic sleepwear. Well done Brooksy!

So, with a good 2 hours of sleep under our belts, we rose at sparrow fart to a vat of porridge and headed to the farmhouse for briefing and the start of a very different day. First up was a jog round our 5 mile run at the end of the day. With a man as random as Kinsey, this was never going to be a winner. Despite everyone's best efforts, all but the most avid runner stopped listening after a quarter of a mile.

Let the games begin! Running a 'bleep test' at 8am is not high on many people's to-do list but 25 running it in a warehouse designed to hold 80,000 chickens is bizarre to say the least. Second task was to throw a 10k rock over your head in an odd version of the shot put. Needless to say, some 8ft tall guy with very long levers won this won. Honourable mention should go to Hillsy for nearly landing it on his own head. Tire-rolling was next and more strange sites as some of the girls tried to heave these huge wheels 100m that were far taller than them. An unusual way to get out of breathe but very effective. Next was an obvious display of exploitation - getting people to pay to come to your farm for once and shift tonnes of rocks that have lain there for decades is a funny way to make friends. Nevertheless another innovative way to work out and work as teams. Best to listen to the rules before you start whinging - G-man!

Another jog, then a well needed lunch and back up to the chicken sheds to roll huge round hay bails down a slalom course. Once again height helped and at some points the bails seemed to be moving themselves as the girls puffed away behind them. A simple tug-o-war competition where technique and the slippery ground won over size and weight was next before the not at all anticipated 6 mile (yes it grew!) run.

The trick to getting a good time was to stick with Kinsey as the only man alive who new the complicated course. This was tough apart from the fittest of us and the leading bunch came in under an hour. The rest lost sight of the human map and got lost. So not only were we behind on the time anyway, this was made worse by running up to an extra kilometre. Fun!

Morale was restored after a shower, a few beers and a hot meal in the local pub. Back to sleep in the comfy village hall floor and the crew departed back to civilisation - a little bit sore - the next morning.

It was a fantastic day and a very clever way to form some strong bonds to take up Everest. The day was physically demanding for all and proved an all over workout for the body. Thanks must go to Kinsey and his family for organising and hosting the whole event.