Saturday witnessed another gathering at the Home Of Cricket of The Everest Test 09 to catch-up with one another after the Christmas festivities, have my bowling smashed about a bit, stretch some muscles and learn about where the expedition is up to at the moment as April races towards us.
The net session was a good cricket work-out with everyone having a good long crack and the bowlers putting the overs in. It was nice to find the edges again and get the bowling pumped through the covers with wild abandon. There were big sixes, uprooted wickets, G-Man falling over, something for everyone, all caught on camera for the expedition records. To highlight some of my fellow Tenzingers - Tooves bowled with the flight and guile of a young Warne and Blinky seemed to be trying to knock everyone t*ts off with his aggressively Caribbean, violent whip. A little bit of chin-symphony is not easy to face in early January. G-Man with his subtle approach to the wickets, reminiscent of a young, white "Whispering Death", catching those who like to get on the front dog unawares with the in-swinging Yorker on the boot laces........until he fell over. Yours truly bowling relatively straight down the "Corridor" and bled runs through the slips, particularly with JC at the crease. Dave Christie made solid runs during his 20 minutes and Wes and The Skipper licking it to all parts of St. John's Wood. Tenzing seriously has it and we must ensure that we can perform on the day and, of course, at altitude. If all 15 make it, there will some difficult selection conundrums.
We were then due for a debrief over the other side of the ground in the Lords Lecture Theatre where expedition leaders, Wes and Kirt gave us the run down. Again, the amount of work evident behind the scenes being injected into this trip reaffirmed my feelings about the commitment and just how amazing this trip will be. Kirt and Cuzza went out to Nepal over Christmas and despite a case of Nepalese Nightmare met with many of the bodies that the trip needs to be on-side to get us into the country and indeed attempt a record on the flanks of their most prized possession. Our PR company is working in overdrive and their commitment and involvement will take us to unprecedented levels; the press launch is due next week from London. We were all chuffed to hear Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have kindly stepped up to lend their support to Team Tenzing and Hillary respectively and The Lord's Taverners, who we are now raising money for, have already lent considerable weight to the cause and are proving our decision to leave Sports Relief was the right one. By miles.
We were told about the documentation of the trip through photography and film and this is something I would like to get closer to if I can. The idea of creating a book documenting the trip from embryo to success; with all the tears and laughs that are bound to crop up, is an inspired idea with members of the party contributing to its creation and production.
Next we had a debrief about some of the medical implications; Sudden Death Syndrome (I think BJ had the same facial expression as I did when this was mentioned), the injections we need to get sorted and some of the implications of break-dancing at high altitude. The logistics of high altitude rescue are hard to put it mildly so every caution must be taken to secure a successful trip and not to strain the limited resources. I must go to my 13 year old Bavarian dentist again. A medical questionnaire is being finalized at the moment and we must declare everything we have or have had. I wonder if my swollen testicle when I was 4, counts? Interesting.
Dave Christie has done some sterling work rounding up North Face as our official clothing sponsor and orders are being sorted now. He also brokered a deal with the North Face shop in London as well as one or two others deals and the savings to be had are considerable on, what can be, pricey gear. Tooves has also managed to get in front of www.stickcricket.com and they have kindly agreed to create our very own teams Tenzing and Hillary for the internet game. Just think, we can while away the core hours of the working day playing with each other(!) for years to come. Excellent work Chaps and thanks.
Fitness continues and the Bath Half Marathon looms ever closer and the top half of my body needs to keep the bottom half motivated to keep moving. It will.
Commitment to this trip is full-on and with other things in life in general happening at the moment, it's difficult fitting everything in and making sure my kids keep calling me "Daddy"rather than "Ginger Fat Bloke" but it will be so worth it and it will be over soon enough, so I am keen I get as much out of it and give the trip what I conceivably can.
I know that if Kirt and Wes ever think about starting their own adventure travel company, I will travel with them again. Food for thought?
Catch up soon after the "Kinsey Hern Pain-athon" - the steak and ale pie better be good.
1 comment:
superb stuff mate. it's the first time my name has been mentioned at the bowling crease without it being suffixed with '... was quickly hauled off'
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