Strive Challenge 2020: Complete

Richard Branson running up a hill
Katie Doo
Virgin Galactic
Richard Branson's signature
Published on 11 November 2020

I am pleased to have now completed all five stages of the Strive Challenge.

The last stage was a triathlon – a 1k swim, 20k bike and 10k run – which I ticked off the list this weekend.

Doing a triathlon pushes you that little bit harder as you have to swap from one thing to another – once you’ve swam 1k and biked up some hills, your legs feel rather heavy when you try and tell them to keep running.

After taking on the 100k cycle and the 10k run last week, I felt like my fitness levels were more than up to the challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Katie Doo
Katie Doo

The Strive Challenge is a yearly event where we take on huge fitness challenges to raise money for the education charity Holly and Sam founded called Big Change. This year’s challenge has been a little different (as have most things) as we’ve all been taking part virtually from all over the world.

While I miss taking on the challenge alongside my family and friends, it has been positive to have something to train towards over the past few months. And it’s been great to have some of the Necker crew do the whole challenge with me. I try and set goals in all areas of my life – I know I work best when I’m motivated and focused on achieving something.

Katie Doo
Katie Doo

Despite no Strive for a year, I will keep my fitness up. I really do feel in a much better frame of mind when I’m fitter and healthier. And with my space flight coming up next year I’ll want to be as fit as possible so that I can enjoy it all the more.

The Necker team have been brilliant company and it’s been great to catch up with Holly and hear about how she did her triathlon over at Virgin Active (before the UK lockdown kicked in).

If you want to get involved you have until the 15th of November to take part in some (or all) of the stages.