Ric Broad, a 69-year-old endurance athlete has been training hard for the Ultra Marathon du Mont Blanc CCC, in aid of Prostate Cancer on August 26th. To give his fundraising a boost, and to let people know how his training has been going, he plans to be at Morrisons on Wednesday, June 22nd, collecting donations for his cause.

In August, Ric will taking part in two half marathons as well as this unique race across the European Alps. He hopes to raise £2,000 for Prostate Cancer UK, a cause very close to his heart. Ric and his twin brother, Pete, have been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. Pete has had some radical surgery, radiotherapy, MRI scans, and hormone therapy. Ric has had several biopsies and MRI scans, among other treatments.

Ric spent a week in May running sections of the Ultra Marathon course, he told the Ross Gazette that running the trails around Chamonix, in France, and Courmayeur, in Italy, has sharpened his senses to the fact he had to be a little more precise about his pace and foot placement.

He said:?“I was pleased to have crossed into Italy and found the start and route of the CCC race which for me emphasised the point of starting out slowly and how important that would be; as getting caught up in the hype and excitement at the start of the race could certainly be the cause of burning out quickly in the first third of the race.”

Ric spend Monday, May 9th on a short run, he told the Gazette he probably didn’t cover more than about 10km on that first run but it was ‘5km up and 5km down, really hard work and a small indication of what was to come for the rest of the week’.

For his first full day’s training Ric started from the centre of Chamonix and decided to run the last part of the ultra challenge in reverse, going to the La Fregere (last fuelling point on the run) onwards to the La Tete aux Vents, the last real high point on the race at 2130m. Once again the total distance was not going to be so great but the aim was to get the legs and body conditioned to running up hill. As he got higher he started to encounter large snow patches and was able to navigate through forest trails.

More training runs followed giving him plenty of experience of traversing the mountains and navigation. He felt he had worked hard over the week and that the whole experience will help with his physical and mental conditioning.

Read a fuller account of Ric’s training experience at www.ross-gazette.co.uk