Harry Mutch, a competitor at this year’s MARS Badminton Horse Trials, has a further challenge on the horizon: he is about to do first a half Iron Man and then a full Iron Man.
“My brother did a few and I used to think, ‘why would you do that? It’s the most stupid thing to do.’ Then I went and watched one, and got the bug,” says Harry, 27, from Whitley Bay in Tyne & Wear.
“It’s just the challenge itself, honestly – and I like the atmosphere. I’ve always loved a challenge and working with horses, it’s all about them. This is a personal challenge, seeing how far can I push myself.”
The full Iron Man, which Harry is doing in Leeds on July 28, consists of a 3.8km swim, followed by a 180km bike ride and a full marathon. It was only after entering that he discovered it was the hilliest course of all the Iron Men competitions worldwide. He admits that, “Fitting in my training as well as preparing for Badminton – and riding my other horses – has been a serious challenge. The hours we have to put in to the horses, with my training on top of that is a serious challenge.
“I’ve been quite carefull with the number of horses I ride – I only have six or seven in, but even so, I have found that my legs don’t have much time to recover; if I’m recovering from my Iron Man training I’m riding horses, and if I’m not riding horses I am training for the Iron Man. Having said that, fitness-wise it’s actually been the best thing for me. I feel like I’m in the best physical shape I could possibly be in to come to a show like this.
“I’m doing a half Iron Man in Switzerland three weeks on Sunday, so this is one of my peak weeks of training. I’ve got my bike in the back of the lorry on a static base, with an iPad in front of me, cycling away in the evenings. I stupidly broke a toe the day before I came here, so I’ve had to stop running for a few days.
“Let’s see how much torture a half Iron Man is – I’m using it as a warm up to the big one. I’m terrified of going to Leeds; last year 20 minutes on the treadmill was hard work. I’m not a natural runner!
“But, I’ve been running a half marathon every Wednesday – it goes to show that you can get your body to do whatever you want, really. It’s exciting.”
But before all that happens, Harry will be tackling the Badminton cross-country course. He is due to set off at 15.40 on Shanbeg Cooley.