In the first episode, Hannah finds four doctors – people who should know better when it comes to health and fitness – and prepares them for The Bone breaker. The course of this 127-mile bicycle race runs through the high peaks of the Pyrenees, crossing the Franco-Spanish border twice.
This week, Hannah takes on her biggest challenge to date. Can she get the cake bakers and jam makers of the Women’s Institute through a gruelling 70-mile triathlon? Hannah has chosen four WI members from the north of England to enter Barb’s Race, a women-only triathlon in the hilly vineyards of northern California. The race involves a 1.2-mile open water swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a half marathon.
Innkeeper Nick May from Harwich, pub mogul David Ripo from Billericay, feisty young pub manager Emma Stubbings from Chelmsford and landlord Eddie Sprenger from Shenfield all fit the mould of typical pub landlords – overweight, heavy drinkers with terrible diets. In addition, long working hours leave them no time to devote to health and fitness. The Texas Water Safari involves canoeing 86 miles through the US state in two days, a gruelling feat for even the fittest. Hannah has her work cut out as she leads the pub landlords on a 12-week roller coaster of jeers, tears and physical exhaustion. Less than a week before the race, as the landlords are making their final preparations for Texas, Hannah is faced with an issue that means she has to drop one of them from the race. With the four landlords reduced to three on the start line, the challenge is now even harder! Over two days they have to contend with snakes, flash storms, rocks, trees, rapids and the searing Texan heat. Their only break from canoeing comes when some parts of the river are blocked by dams and dangerous debris, forcing the landlords to carry their metal canoes across land, up and down slippery mud banks. Will all three canoeists make it around the last corner to the finish line?
The event that the car dealers are aiming to compete in is Gael Force West, a triathlon based in the wild, unforgiving terrain of the west coast of Ireland. It includes a 41-mile cycle ride, a 13-mile combination of running and hiking, and a kayaking nightmare across Ireland’s only fjord. To top it all, there is a daunting climb up one of Ireland’s tallest mountains – the 2,500 foot high Craogh Patrick!
