Rawson's Grand to Grand Challenge

Rawson's Grand to Grand Challenge The Rawson's Grand to Grand Challenge- 6 days march across high desert of the Grand Canyon. A self supported race of 273k to raise funds for RP Blindness.

'....sharing a tent with a father and his three sons. Had a fleeting thought that it would be great to do this with Alex, Greg and Georgie but don't worry guys this is the last one for me...'

Those are the words I posted during the Gobi March in 2010- a 250k self supported Ultra marathon race across the Gobi desert over six days-and at the time I meant it. Since then I have (foolishly) completed

a few other
similar events and even more foolishly for them, talked Alex, Greg and Georgie
to join me in the 2017 Grand To Grand ULTRA- 273k over six stages (Four days of
roughly a marathon a day, a double marathon day and final day a half marathon)
self-supported foot slog into the Grand Canyon USA. Event dates are 24th to 29th of September 2017. Add to the distance, the terrain (broken trails and lot of
SAND), the heat, altitude and lots of climbing, carrying all gear other than a tent and putting up with boil in the bag meals for 6/7 days and attempting to do this as a family who now live in four different countries and so limited training time together and I hope
this gives you a sense of the challenges ahead. If not the attached link to the
Grand To Grand promo video may help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Ol7_q2fas

So why are we doing this? As with all challenges many personal reasons drive the participants, for us it’s a chance for the four of us to experience and support each other through an event that very few people would even contemplate… is that enough? I hope so but to add to the challenge is the chance to see one of the natural wonders of the world up close and very
personal. There is one other reason for undertaking this challenge and
that’s to raise funds. Raise funds for a charity that is very personal to us as
a family- RP Fighting Blindness www.rpfightingblindness.org.uk. PLEASE NOTE- we are raising funds through the St James's Place Foundation to pass onto RP Fighting Blindness as they have generously offered to provide matching donations for every pound raised by us. Why personal to us? Well simply Greg was diagnosed
with RP around 18 months ago and while he is in early stages, we have spent a lot of time since that moment investigating the impact of RP and the support and treatments available to fight this condition that frankly we knew little about before which given its impact on so many people is surprising. 1 in 3-4,000 people are affected by RP from mild conditions to complete blindness and at the moment there is no treatment for the condition. We hope that you will kindly support our challenge with encouragement, kind words and of course donations. If you want to follow the event and indeed our preparation/training (attempted training) then follow our page: Rawson's grand to Grand Challenge https://www.facebook.com/rawsons-grand-to-grand-challenge-1438002276238611/

Alex, Greg Georgie and Mark Rawson

It may not be GtoG but get to do the Kazakhstan 100 with Georgie this weekend 👍 Action Asia
09/12/2024

It may not be GtoG but get to do the Kazakhstan 100 with Georgie this weekend 👍 Action Asia

Well it's been a few days since we left the race and now after the full event has finished it's time to reflect a little...
10/02/2017

Well it's been a few days since we left the race and now after the full event has finished it's time to reflect a little.

Of course on one level things didn't go as planned - we didn't finish the race, we are all disappointed (and sore!). But I saw determination, persistence and down right bloody mindedness from Alex and Georgie that defied the pain they both were in and from Greg a sense of sensibility in decision making that proved more than the right choice. I think we all learned a lot about each other and it's all good 😊

On other levels the event has been fantastic- Tess and Colin run a great tough race, Kanab is a fantastic town defined by its people all of whom are open and warm, the other competitors are amazing beyond belief and many will be with us for many years to come AND of course we raised an amazing amount of money for RP Fighting Blindness from the fantastic donations made by YOU - thank you everyone.

There has even been a little bit of talk of another 'race' watch this space 👌

10/02/2017

Just to confirm we are all safe and not in Las Vegas.
Woke to hear the terrible news from Vegas and our heartfelt condolences and thoughts go out to all affected.

Sorry for lack of updates for a while. Regrettably Team Rawson are out of the Grand to Grand, the combination of strong ...
09/30/2017

Sorry for lack of updates for a while. Regrettably Team Rawson are out of the Grand to Grand, the combination of strong sun, terrain, heavy back packs and time on our feet resulted in some strains that made going too slow and painful and despite huge courage shown by all it was decided to withdraw. Everyone is safe but sore and now relaxing in the wonderful town of Kanab, Utah. More to follow.

The distance of each stage
09/25/2017

The distance of each stage

Sunday 24/9 Stage 1 - Smiling still
09/24/2017

Sunday 24/9 Stage 1 - Smiling still

On Saturday we are moving from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on hard packed dirt trail and some tough cross country,...
09/24/2017

On Saturday we are moving from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on hard packed dirt trail and some tough cross country, to a beautiful campsite with views of the Vermillion Cliffs. Perhaps we could be lucky to see the California Condor as the Vermillion Cliffs are their habitat!

Sunday is race day 1 - The weather looks to be cool with temperatures in the high about 14 C. Unfortunately the G2G website is currently down.

The finish line is in a really remote place.

Thank you so much for those who have send messages, we will read it all as soon on as the website is up and running again, your messages help a lot!

It’s going to be a chilly start of the race
09/24/2017

It’s going to be a chilly start of the race

Here we go off to the start. Reminder that if you would like to make a donation to RP Fighting Blindness you can through...
09/23/2017

Here we go off to the start. Reminder that if you would like to make a donation to RP Fighting Blindness you can through our just giving page 😜 thank you

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gtograwson

Lucky Charms and a healthy fry up before last non rehydrated meal for seven days 😜
09/23/2017

Lucky Charms and a healthy fry up before last non rehydrated meal for seven days 😜

09/23/2017

Seems you need competitor numbers for the email so Alex is 903, Georgie 904, Greg 905 and mine 245 😜

A reminder that you can follow us on the Grand to Grand website AND there is an option to send us emails that we can pic...
09/23/2017

A reminder that you can follow us on the Grand to Grand website AND there is an option to send us emails that we can pick up at the end of each day- I can assure you those messages help hugely 😜 competitor numbers for the email are Alex is 903, Georgie 904, Greg 905 and Mark 245

The Grand to Grand Ultra is a unique event – the first and only self supported stage footrace in North America.

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Grand Canyon Village, AZ

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