Words by Smiley Team
The Tokyo Olympic Games start on 23 July – and while you're sat at home watching it on your sofa, spare a thought for a couple who have set themselves the challenge to compete in every single Olympic event in the 17 days the games will be held.
That means they'll be running a marathon, cycling the 234km road race, swimming 10km, performing a synchronised swimming routine, skateboarding, among plenty more things.
Charlotte Nichols and Stuart Bates, who both live in Abingdon, Oxford, were inspired to do the challenge in memory of Stuart’s brother, Spencer.
10 years ago, Stuart lost his brother to motor neurone disease. “Spenny was aged just 49 and left behind his two young children, Samuel and Isaac, who were aged just seven and four,” says Stuart. “We wanted to do something big to mark this anniversary in a positive way and to carry on Spenny's legacy of fundraising for the motor neurone disease association.”
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MND is a neurological condition that affects the nerves that carry signals from the brain to the muscles to tell them what to do. This means that you lose the ability to speak, breathe, swallow and move, all while your brain continues to function – leaving you trapped inside your body. 1/300 people will get motor neurone disease in their lifetime and it is fatal in all cases, usually within two years. The MND association provides vital care for those living with the disease and also funds research into finding treatments and hopefully one day a cure for this terrible disease.
“We do not want anyone to have to go through what Spenny and those who knew him did,” say the couple.
Stuart and his brother were massive Olympic fans – every time the games came around, they would sit and watch every hour of coverage and critique every athlete's performance, “despite knowing nothing about the sport!”
“We loved the idea of Spenny looking down on us and seeing just how terrible we are at everything and how brilliant the Olympians are and having a good laugh at his brother falling off bikes, skateboards, windsurfing rigs, horses,” says Charlotte.
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“We also wanted to do something massive that no one had ever done before too to help us raise as much money and awareness as possible for the MND association. Stuart came up with the idea of doing every Olympic event, Charlotte suggested doing it over the 17 days of the games- and off we went!”
So, how are they feeling about it? “We are excited and terrified in equal measures,” the couple tell us, before embarking on the challenge.
“We can't wait to get started and we have spent the last six months training for all of the sports and organising every last detail and now we are ready to just give it our all!
“I think we are both apprehensive about the huge amount of opportunities to get injured, as well as the massive physical demand, we are starting off with the 240km cycle which is going to be so hard. We just hope that we can make it through to the marathon on the last day and smash it, all while raising as much money as we can in the process!”
To support the couple, donate on their JustGiving page to raise money for the MND Association. You can find out more about their challenge at Spennylympics.com – or follow them (@Spennylympics) to find out how their challenge is going, and wish them good luck!
