Valentine Racers at Tri-Adventure

Tri-Adventure / 10.02.2013

Daniel and Helen Murphy are married and are one of an increasing number of couples taking part in the Tri-Adventure Sprint adventure races.  Have recently attended our Tri-Adventure Academy and it’s safe to say they both have the adventure racing bug, we wanted to hear about couples taking up adventurous activities together, let’s hear what they had to say …

How do you find adventure racing as a couple?

“We enjoy taking on the challenge together, and although there are sometimes frictions during a race, we are always glad to have completed it in each other's company. We used to race together in kayak races (in a K2) and I have always been the more serious (AKA stressed) competitor with Helen taking a more relaxed approach which helps balance things out when situations don’t go to plan (like getting a little lost). One hurdle to overcome is the imbalance in fitness/strength levels between us - which is probably quite typical of a male/female team - and we are considering the use of towing devices in some future events to help with this, along with more training and descent practice for Helen.

Does adventure racing competitiveness spill over into home life?

Usually the spill over is limited to no housework being done because we are both too exhausted from training or racing! Sometimes if the house is a real mess, we can use the compass to work out how to get from one room to the next, though the competition would be limited to climbing over Helen's clothes piles (OK, so only joking about the messy house - well, sort of). I think we save our competitiveness for race day!

Would you recommend other couples to get into AR and why?

Would thoroughly recommend it for fitness and fun (OK, less fun when the temperature is below zero), and a great way to spend time with the one you love outside of the normal home life. A word of caution is that it can take some time to develop a "racing relationship" so be prepared for some quiet drives home, and maybe some less quiet times during the race.

If you fancy taking up a new hobby as a couple, something fun which can also improve your fitness and bring you closer as a couple the sign up today!  Join our adventure at www.triadventure.co.uk and ‘like’ us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/triadventure).