Daily Diary

Suckers for punishment

Posted 24/04/2008 by The Daily Diary

It’s obviously the season for gruelling/unnecessary feats/stunts of daring/foolhardiness (delete as appropriate), with LW Towers this week swamped by missives from lawyers about their exercise-based exploits.

Earlier this year The Diary revealed how a team of tough-nuts from Jones Day were running the Paris and London marathons in successive weekends – and cycling the 300 miles between them to boot. Well, they did it – and you can contribute to the £100,000 they hope to raise for Cancer Research UK here.

Clifford Chance senior associate Kirsty Devonport did only the one marathon last month (bit slack, that) but at least it was in horribly unsuitable conditions. She completed the self-styled World’s Coolest Marathon at the North Pole in aid of Leukemia Research in temperatures of almost minus-30 degrees Celsius.

Only marginally less frightening, Hill Dickinson assistants Alex Saxty, Marie Sundell and Laura Alston will be attempting the Three Peaks challenge later this year, which involves slogging up Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Helvellyn (it’s in Wales, apparently) in a single helicopter-assisted weekend.

Finally, and perhaps least plausibly, Ian Down, a partner at West End firm Hamlins, will be swimming around Malta next month in search of loot for the Light Fund. Apparently the dangers include “poisonous jellyfish” and “sunburn”, although presumably not so much in the full-body wetsuit he'll be sporting for the event.