Milk fuels Fortuneswell sports enthusiast's amazing journey (From Dorset Echo)

Milk fuels Fortuneswell sports enthusiast's amazing journey

2:00pm Friday 18th May 2012 in Local News By Laura Kitching

SEMI-SKIMMED milk will be fuelling endurance athlete Tim Ellis on the greatest challenge of his life – an 87-mile run, 22-mile kayak and 180-mile cycle.

The sports enthusiast from Portland is setting off at dawn tomorrow to push his body to the limits in the name of charity on a three-day gruelling marathon He expects to drink up to 15 pints of the white stuff as he runs from the Marble Arch in London to Dover, before he crosses the English Channel by kayak to Calais, and cycles to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Mr Ellis, who is an outdoor sports facilitator for Weymouth College, aims to complete the route in 59 hours with just 10 hours of sleep.

He said: “Weather permitting I’ll be setting off on Friday at 4am from the Marble Arch. The idea is to get my legs down to Dover in a reasonable condition in 20 hours and then set off again on Saturday morning across the Channel.

“After a four-hour sleep I’ll cycle 180 miles to the Arc de Triomphe.

“I’ve been training for six months and over the years I’ve done bits and pieces of these sorts of things.

“Through the day I’ll mainly have semi-skimmed milk, over the 20 hour run I’d be surprised if I didn’t drink at least 15 pints. It’s just lovely.”

The 56-year-old praised two Weymouth companies, Belle Construction and KG Roofing, for helping him to meet the costs of challenge, which is raising funds for money for the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust and Julia’s House children’s hospice.

Mr Ellis, of Fortuneswell, said: “I’ve been really lucky because Belle Construction and KG Roofing are helping me to meet the expense of the mandatory Dover to Calais pilot boat of £1,500. I’ve also put in about £1,500 of my funds into it.”

Mr Ellis will be accompanied by his ‘old EnduroMan mate’ Eddie Ette, who has helped to organise the challenge, his son Josh Ellis and Portland Gig Rowing Club teammate Frank Cameron in a support van. Both the hospice charities are close to Mr Ellis’s heart.

He said: “Personally for me, I lost my mum Lily Ellis to cancer in 2010 and from the prison service I lost two of my good PE partners to cancer.

“My mum was 86 and she said she had had good innings but when she went to Poole for treatment it really upset her to see the children there.

“She said if you ever do it, do it for the children. I’m doing this for my mum and colleagues, trying to cover both of the age groups for hospices.”

To sponsor Mr Ellis’s epic journey visit justgiving.com/Tim-Ellis2Paris.

It's a year to remember

TIM Ellis is making 2012 a year to remember.

Mr Ellis, who retired from being head of custody at Dorchester Prison last year, has already kayaked 100 miles around Lanzarote this year with his friend Eddie Ette and completed the triple marathon Jurassic Coast Challenge.

This summer he will be carrying the Olympic Flame through Dorchester on July 12 after being selected to be an official torchbearer.

The relay is scheduled to arrive in the county town at 1.49pm.

Past endurance events that Mr Ellis has participated in include the two way Chesil Beach 35-mile run on the pebbles with Mr Ette in 11 hours in 2006, plus a 60-mile trip by kayak from Portland to Cherbourg in 18 hours in 2008.