Going To Extremes

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, NO ONE HAS EVER CYCLED THE LENGTH OF GREAT BRITAIN, RAN UP THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS OR SWAM THE LONGEST LAKES IN ONE GO… UNTIL NOW.MEET FRANKIE TINSLEY, THE MAN WHO TOOK ON THE EPIC 16-DAY TALISMAN TRIATHLON…

- ROB SLADE

Every now and then, you hear about an endurance challenge that makes you sit up and take notice. Frankie Tinsley’s Talisman Triathlon is one of them. The idea – to ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, swim the longest lakes in England, Scotland and Wales, and run over the highest mountain in each nation – was the product of a conversation between Frankie and his friend Andrew Morris, who just a few months later would take his own life. This, along with the loss of friend Andrew Shephard, also from suicide, prompted Frankie to start properly planning the Talisman.

The aim was threefold: be the first ever person to complete it; promote physical resilience and positive mindset; and develop awareness around mental health and suicide in partnership with mental health charity CALM, raising money in the process (donations are still welcome at justgiving.com/fundraising/ talisman-triathlon).

Despite his background as a Royal Marine Commando and RAF physical training instructor, this was still one hell of an undertaking. Before committing to the challenge, Frankie had never even done a triathlon. In fact, the longest he’d ever swam in one go was a mile.

Of course, endurance challenges like these aren’t possible without the help of others, and Frankie was effusive about the support he received from his team, the wider public and the brands that sponsored the challenge (ThruDark, Huub and Ribble). “A lot of big organisations don’t need to sponsor people and yet they do. I look at what ThruDark did, the amount of money, time, effort and resource they selflessly put behind the project, and Ribble and Huub too. They didn’t need to do that. They took a chance on someone who floated a concept and I think anyone involved in the experience is indebted to them.”