Gary Mayatt – The 40 Challenge

This is what 40 days of beard growth looks like!

Photos from the Maldon Mud Race 2009.

I have also posted a clip of me being interviewed after the race. (look under The 40 Challenge links)

I gave blood for the first time in 40 years.  It is amazing how many people you talk to that have never given blood, but if you needed blood you would usually be given it.  All I can say to those single men out there – if you want to meet a lady give blood as the ladies outnumber men 10-1.

Well my next act of madness has been to shave off my hair. I have always been fond of my blond locks, I was even starting to grow it a bit longer and wear flip flops like a hippy - all part of my mid-life crisis! But the locks are gone all in the name of charity. Hopefully it won’t take too long to grow back!   

Before

After

I returned from South Africa yesterday in one piece. It was an amazing experience and the challenges I faced helped me conquer my fears.

Abseiling Table Mountain.

This has got to be the most terrifying thing I have ever done.  It took me 15 minutes to leave the edge and ½ hour to get down the mountain.   Halfway down, the rock face disappeared so we were dangling in open space and twisting around.  I believe there were great views over Cape Town but I had my eyes closed most of the time.  Once we reached the bottom we then had to walk back up the cliff face to the top which took about 45 minutes to an hour.  Not for the faint hearted.  For someone who wouldn’t even go to the top of the Eiffel Tower I am quite pleased to have achieved this.  Would I do it again – definitely not!!

Shark Diving

I wasn’t too worried about this until I saw the first group of people get in the cage and saw the size of the sharks (over 5 meters).  The good news is they only spent 20 minutes there!  I jumped in the cage with my brother Tim and was very nervous.  Tim loves anything to do with pain, danger or fear, but I’m the complete opposite!! You have to hold some internal bars so you can keep your head under water.  I wrapped my foot behind me around the back of the cage to keep still, but it was only after 10 minutes that I gained some confidence and looked around then to my horror the boat wasn’t as low as I thought it was so the sharks could come from behind and think my foot was a seal!  (If you didn’t know, if sharks see a black item they think it’s a seal so they attack!!)  After 20 minutes we hadn’t seen a shark so I was happy to get out.  Just as I got out someone said there’s a shark so I jumped back in and took hold of the bars when suddenly the shark attacked the bait which is about a metre away from the cage and knocked me and the cage flying!!  That was enough for me so I tried to get out but was told that I can’t as you are not allowed to get out when there are sharks in the area.  That was the longest 3 minutes of my life!   Would I do it again – probably not!!

Walking up Table Mountain

This was the easiest of the 3 challenges in South Africa.  Even though this was hard with different types of terrain, cliff faces and a poor map reader!  It took just under 3 hours to walk up Table Mountain from Kirstenbosch.  It was an enjoyable walk but a tough walk.  You walk through dense forest at one point, then open moorland and then up cliff faces.  Would I do this again – yes, but next time I would like to run up there.