Fitness fanatic gets ready for a year of gruelling tasks

HE IS preparing to take on 12 gruelling challenges, each lasting 12 hours, which will push his mental and physical endurance to the limit.

But Edinburgh fitness fanatic and all-round glutton for punishment Stuart Doyle admits one challenge terrifies him more than any other – watching royal wedding highlights on a 12-hour loop.

Not content with having cycled 3500 miles from Athens to Edinburgh to raise money for St Columba’s Hospice earlier this year, Stuart is to undertake a new challenge each month purely for fun.

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The 29-year-old, from Slateford, has named the jaw-dropping mix of physical and mental feats the “Treble12 Challenge” and he plans to get other people on board.

His list of activities includes a cycle to England and back, a mountain challenge, and 12 hours of solitude. He will also climb Ben Nevis twice and take to the waves for a surf-a-thon. He has yet to decide on the remaining challenges to reach the total of 12 for the year.

The challenges kick off this month with an eye-watering 12-hour stretch of press-ups.

“I really want to inspire other people in some way. It would be great to get people involved who have never undertaken anything like this before,” he said.

“When I did my bike ride, a lot of people told me they would love to have done something like that, but they said they couldn’t for one reason or another. I want to show people that you can get involved in challenges such as these. I hope to ignite a fire inside them to go on and encourage them do similar challenges in the future, and I’m also looking forward to sharing these experiences with people of a similar mind.”

Stuart, who works for Scottish Widows, added: “I find it fascinating to see how far the human body can be pushed before its breaks or gives in.

“More fascinating to me is seeing people push themselves further than they ever imagined and achieving things they never thought possible.”

But Stuart, who keeps fit by running, cycling and playing football, admits he is feeling anxious about the challenges.

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“Doing anything for 12 hours will be pretty tough. “It’s not just the fitness aspect. If anything, the mental challenges are going to be harder.

“The 12 hours of solitude – no phone, no Twitter, no internet – just sitting in my room, that will be hard. Who knows what sorts of things I’ll end up thinking about while I’m sitting there for that length of time on my own, doing nothing.”

Perhaps the most unusual task Stuart faces will be the royal wedding “marathon”.

“I was looking back over the past few months and I thought to myself, I absolutely hated watching the royal wedding.

“My wife Ella watched the wedding, the highlights, highlights of the highlights.

“It will be really punishing to have to watch it over and over again.”

To follow Stuart’s progress visit www.outthecomfortzone.wordpress.com.

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