September 19^th, 10:30am

Standing in the drizzle at the start line of the 2010 Spartan Race in Cambridge, not one of the intosport.com team looked up for the challenge.

The MC tried to gear us up with some Spartan battle cries, but our yells were half hearted at best.

Back in early July and our office weekly staff meeting was just winding up when someone piped up, “Has anyone heard of the Spartan Race?  We should do it as a team.”

This sounded like a great idea in sunny July- “Sign us up!” we yelled in unison.

So… the sun was nowhere to be seen and we had no idea what the course had in store for us.  Directly to our left stood Wolverine and Captain America- this lightened the mood, but only slightly.

The horn sounded and we were off.  The entire field set off at an alarmingly fast pace and the intosport.com team suddenly spread out- it was every Spartan for themselves.

Much of what took place over the next hour is a blur, but parts of that course will provide a talking point in the office for at least the next few weeks.  The worrying thing was, it seemed like we ran for miles before we even arrived at any obstacles.

Stitches and fatigue were beginning to set in when we were yelled at by a spear wielding man from 300 to jump into a stream.  Little did we know that wading down this cold muddy stream would be the easiest of all the obstacles.

What came to next is the stuff nightmares are made of…

A line of people filed into a small, wet and dark tunnel.  Not a problem we thought, it’ll only be a few metres long.

We were wrong.

While no one is quite sure exactly how long the tunnel was, we were in there for at least five minutes, ‘waddling’ along in the pitch black.  Our only respite was the man in front doing an impressive ‘Gollum’ from Lord of the Rings impression.  Suffice to say, it was a pretty traumatic five minutes.

Emerging into the light, we were greeted by the intosport.com camera offering some support- I think you will see from our comments how excited we were to see it!

The rest of the course involved barbed wire, cargo nets, jumping over fire (yes, fire) and a swim across an extremely cold lake.

And you know what?

It was brilliant.

We all agreed that once we got three quarters of the way round, and we couldn’t hurt any more, that it was an amazing experience.

James, our resident production expert, has put together this great video of our experiences (with suitably dramatic music!) for you to enjoy.  If you feel inspired, there are more Spartan Races happening across the UK and the US next year.

Will we be entering again?

Hmmmmm….We’ll have to see about that one.

The intosport.com team

It was a great performance in the 1^st round, one that was very much needed. It seemed as if Murray had rediscovered some of his weaponry, in particular his backhand, and he used it to great affect as clinical winners were hit all around the court. It was a performance that said as much about Andy’s mental strength and determination as it did his ability and it’s this mental strength that will be needed to pull him out of this dip and back up to the top of his game.

That win delivered a much needed boost to Murray’s camp but unfortunately the high didn’t last long as in the next round David Ferrer, clay court specialist, was waiting. Even on his best form it was a match that Andy may always have difficulty in winning due to his preference for other playing surfaces so there’s no need for further despair. It just seems that Andy may need to struggle through this clay court season and get to Wimbledon with as much confidence intact as possible.

It was an incredible turn out on Sunday as approximately 36,000 people took their starting orders and set off from their respective start point. The race itself was won by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede finishing over a minute clear of Kenya’s Emmanuel Mutai as world champion Abel Kirui was fifth. The 27-year-old clocked an impressive two hours 13 minutes and 40 seconds and became only the third Ethiopian to win the London Marathon, speaking in a humble tone he said “I was a bit disappointed with the run actually, it is OK, it is a good start and hopefully I will go into the next one with a lot more confidence”.

In the women’s race it was Russia’s glory as Liliya Shobukhova and Inga Abitova came in 1^st and 2^nd respectively, with Shobukhova’s winning time clocked at two hours 21 minutes and 59 seconds. Unfortunately Britain’s Mara Yamauchi faded from contention around the half way mark and couldn’t better her previous year’s performance of 2^nd, eventually finishing in 10^th.

There was also heart brake for another of our British athletes as David Weir was denied a fifth successive London Marathon win when a succession of punctures prevented him from turning his dominance of the race into a victory. It was left to Canadian Josh Cassidy to take the title and win his first London Marathon.

As always it wasn’t just the elite athletes that were achieving greatness as people from all different walks of life participated in the days events. Princess Beatrice became the first Royal to compete in the race after running in a group of 34 who set a new record for the highest number of interlinked runners to finish. Virgin boss Richard Branson completed the course dressed as a butterfly, whilst Emmerdale actor Tony Audenshaw was the fastest celebrity.

Other records set this year included account manager David Ross, 42, from Sutton becoming the fastest-ever cartoon character when he finished dressed as Fred Flintstone. Police officer Jill Christie wore a Superwoman outfit and took the record for quickest female superhero and financial analyst Ben Afforselles from Kent, was the fastest leprechaun.

The Icelandic ash cloud had threatened to disrupt the race and many of the elite athletes only arrived after boarding a specially chartered flight from Madrid on Thursday. However the event ended up going ahead without any problems and ended on a good note when a competitor named Luke proposed to his girlfriend Yvette live on the BBC during his post race interview, congratulations to the happy couple!

We’ll be posting our intosport.com London Marathon video soon, so stay tuned for more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TyvTSyVAis

The All England Club has announced that this year the winners of both the Men’s and Women’s titles at Wimbledon will receive £1m each. This apparently is due to the decreased strength of the pound and the rise in tennis’s global marketing value. Now I’m all for equality etc etc etc and I think it’s a good thing that the Women’s champion gets as much as the Men’s champion, however I think it is worth pointing out that now in terms of how much they get paid per game or per hour on court, the Women’s champion actually gets paid a lot more than the Men’s, just pointing it out that’s all.

Also we found this video on youtube of tennis player lookalikes….some really good ones, only meant in jest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXLqDrCW2fw

In both cases it seemed that Murray was simply unable to pull himself out of an abyss of self doubt and error and what’s more worrying he seemed to give up with out much a fight. The crowd in Monaco certainly sensed his lack of effort and the boos and jeers rang out around the stadium, voicing their displeasure at seeing a player renowned for his fight and spirit, displaying as much back bone as infantile jelly fish.

Two terrible performances without doubt, but should the panic sirens be sounding just yet? Well not really but they’re on stand by, Murray was awful in both matches but it doesn’t really constitute a serious slump, remembering also that one of the matches was his first of the clay court season, a surface that Murray finds notoriously difficult, and was against a player who specialises playing on the red stuff. It’s also very easy with all the hoopla going on about the Davis Cup defeat and the LTA etc etc etc to over react and jump to extreme conclusions.

However this is where Team Murray needs to earn their money! For a while now Murray has bettered pessimistic British expectations but with that first Grand Slam victory still alluding him he might just be starting to doubt himself so it may take some external help and encouragement to get him back on his feet and in winning ways again!

Lastly good luck to Leon Smith, the new GB Davis Cup captain, hopefully he’ll bring a fresh approach to the team and start producing some positive results for us all!

It was very disappointing to see John Lloyd resign from his position as Captain of Great Britain’s David Cup team following the embarrassing loss to Lithuania. The general theme of the post event press coverage was that change would be inevitable, but it wasn’t just Lloyd’s head being called for. Plenty of well known and respected voices from the tennis world, including Lloyd’s brother David and several former Davis Cup players, cried for a change at the very top of the LTA, rather than the resignation of the Davis Cup Captain. It’s a tough situation and clearly something has to change – but without knowing the inner workings, politics and personalities inside the LTA it’s impossible to know who should be held accountable. However, it does make you wonder what more Lloyd could have done, and what difference a fresh face can make? If you don’t have the quality of players, with the ability to perform at the required level, then there really isn’t a lot you can do.

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is the young crop of LTA supported players that are showing signs of real potential. Maybe we’re expecting too much of the LTA too soon – maybe we just have to accept that there isn’t a quick fix, that it’s going to take time, and even then we may not produce a grand slam winner, especially if another Roger Federer comes along. Anyway, it’ll be an interesting story to follow. Defeat to Turkey in the next Davis Cup match would be, well, unthinkable. But then I’m sure I read something similar a few weeks ago before the Lithuania tie. I’m certainly not going to be sitting comfortably until that match is in the bag.

Huge congratulations must go to Ivan Ljubicic (nice sounding name that) who became the oldest ever first time winner of a Masters Series event when he over came Andy Roddick in the final of BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The shockingly ancient Ljubicic ,31, defeated those pesky kids Nadal and Djokovic on his way to boosting his retirement fund.

Speaking of old men, when viewing the BBC sport pages this morning whilst enjoying a bowl of youthful coco pops, I almost covered my computer screen in chocolaty milk when I read a breaking news headline proclaiming that Tim Henman, 35, was returning to competitive tennis! It was only when I read the attached article that it became apparent that he was going to take part in the Aegeon Masters event at the Royal Albert Hall with the likes of John McEnroe and Pat Cash (I have sub consciously replaced the word ‘competing’ with the phrase ‘taking part’ that is a bit ageist, apologies). In all seriousness it will be great to see Tiger Tim back on court ‘competing’ again. The event starts on the 30^th Nov so look out for tickets!

So from one man we’ve missed to a team missing some key players. Last week saw Netball Superleague’s new superstar franchise, Surrey Storm, suffer their first defeat at the hands of Northern Thunder. It seems that the Guildford based side are missing the England defensive duo Mkloma and Mentor, who have now departed the UK for the ANZ Championships down under. Special mention has to go to Thunder’s shooter Karen Greig who produced an almost faultless performance, and to Bayman and Clarke who ran riot in the thirds.

Lastly a big well done to everyone and anyone who donated or took part in raising money for SportRelief last weekend or indeed over the past few months. The final total came in at over £29m so the amount of people who’ll really see the benefit of that is fantastic! Also if you haven’t had the chance yet make sure you see James Corden’s sketch at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. It was absolutely hilarious and at times really hit the nail on the head about British sport, and coming from someone who was not a fan of Gavin and Stacey that is saying something!

Anyways the Miami Masters starts tomorrow so I’ll post some thoughts on that once it’s underway, have a good week!

The U17 girls journeyed to Belfast to take on Ireland, Wales and Scotland in the hope of living up to the tag of favourites and retaining their title. The girls got off to a difficult but good start when they defeated Wales in a fierce contest 39-37 but that would be the end of the difficulties as they went on to show their class in the remaining matches beating Scotland and Ireland 64-15 and 63-20 respectively. It was a great performance from England; to top if off their captain Yasmin Parsons was voted ‘Player of the Tournament’ by her team mates and fellow competitors.

It was all very emphatic from the U19 team as well as they made light work of the competition in their tournament in Loughborough. They had an extra match to play on their way to the championship as, as well as playing Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, the team from Malta had also made it to the finals.

It was the Maltese who were first to be pushed aside by England as they hit their stride early and recorded an 88-11 opening win. Next up was Northern Ireland but the result was in the same ruthless fashion as England marched on to an 81-12 victory. It seemed there was no stopping the English girls as they reclaimed there title, finishing off the tournament with wins against Scotland 71-19 and Wales 60-17.

Congratulations then to both sets of players as they showed great ability and professionalism in their performances alike. Such quality in youth bodes well for the future of England netball.

Before the weekend, the idea of losing a Davis Cup match to a country that possesses just three world ranked players was unthinkable. Surely British Davis Cup couldn’t stoop lower. But it did, Great Britain succumbed to a fifth successive Davies Cup defeat. And if you think I’m being over-dramatic, to give it some perspective, it’s something that hasn’t happened for more than 100 years.

It came down to the final set, in the final game, but Dan Evans wasn’t able to hold his nerve. He lost 6-7 7-5 6-0 2-6 6-4 to Laurynas Grigelis a player ranked 269 places below Evans at 521. The defeat means Britain now face a play-off match in July against Turkey to avoid slipping down to the lowest possible level in world tennis.

For everyone involved in British tennis it’s a horrible situation to be in and a huge contrast to the successes of Andy Murray’s run at the Australian Open a couple of months ago. Despite Murray’s brilliance, it seems tennis in Britain is having real problems converting its budget, and personnel effort, into success on the court.

Hopefully now the only way is up and this run of defeats will be the low point of the improvement that we are all desperate to see over the coming years. With arguably the world’s best tennis tournament and a wealth of history in the sport Great Britain should be a lot higher than it currently is and hopefully the future will see us back up where we belong.

The only way is up. Assuming that is, we can overcome the nerves of a relegation dogfight against Turkey.

Now, we’d have been forgiven for not expecting a winning result from the England team – it’s been almost 30 years since they managed to overcome the Australians in a competitive test match – but after 4 high intensity quarters of action, the England girls came out on top 41-40. Some massive performances from many England players – Sara Bayman in the centre, and Mentor and Mikloma dominated the defensive D. The final few minutes were very nerve wracking with England letting a 4 goal advantage slip back to a single goal in the last minute. The deserved victory came not a second too soon and Liverpool’s Echo Arena erupted at the result – 29 years of defeats finally ended!

Tomorrow we roll onto the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham and all the pressure on the Aussies to make amens for last night’s defeat – it should be a tasty encounter! If you live nearby then get yourself down there and give the girls your support!

As I read on two questions arose in my mind, how is he planning on doing it and is he mentally all there? After I read the article over the next couple of days Dan started popping up all over the place and I found his adventure all the more intriguing. So I got in touch to find out more about his audacious challenge. You can read my interview shortly in Sport Talk at intosport.com.