The Sussex Newspaper - Great news for a great county!

Brighton man, Ashley Baldwin, 43, is deep in training for the FIRST EVER multi-discipline race across Lake Baikal described as twice as hard as the infamous Marathon Des Sables.

Described as ‘Longer than England, colder than vodka and harder than granite’ this is the first time that a race such as this has been attempted and Ashley Baldwin, 43 from Brighton is raring to become the first to walk on water and reach the finish for the World’s first Siberian Black Ice Race this coming March 2012.

Lake Baikal is the World’s oldest and deepest ice lake and billed as ‘the World’s most terrifying lake’ with an eerily spooky covering of black tormented ice. Ashley is set to travel several thousand miles to the remote ancient Cossack city of Irkutsk, Siberia and compete in one of the World’s most beautiful wildernesses in an entirely new category of endurance racing and truly show what “the ordinary boy” from East Sussex can do!

Ashley told The Sussex Newspaper:  “Adventure is my passion. Racing in the EWR Siberian Black Ice Race appeals to my extreme sense of adventure and importantly is a fantastic way to both fundraise and achieve wider awareness of my fantastic charities: Greenpeace, Cancer Research UK, the Alzheimer’s Society and Angling for Success.  I’ve never attempted anything like the Black Ice Race before so I’m also doing it for me to see if I can and to see if just once I can be ‘the extraordinary boy’”.

Tony Martin, Race Organiser and MD of Extreme World Races, said:  “For any adventurer, to take part in a World’s first is a challenge of their life. To think that you could be the first to reach that goal is something that cannot be underestimated both mentally and physically. With Marathon competitors also completing their journey on the legendary Trans-Siberian Express this is a race that will certainly be remembered”.