Macmillan Charity Race - Max's Blog - Part 1

For some unknown reason I am riding in the Macmillan Charity Race at York Racecourse on June 13th 2015. For the race I have to weigh 11 stone 7 which includes all of my equipment, saddle, breeches, silks etc. so basically no more than 11 stone 3 stripped.

New Year’s Eve 2014, 14 stone 9 showed up on the scales. Not ideal.

On Thursday January 2nd I started my training after my final blow out on New Years’ Day. I started with a brisk two mile run around Newmarket with my good friend and appointed trainer Niall Collum. To everyone who knows Niall they would all agree that he is different, in fact a lunatic sometimes comes to mind. An Irishman who loves America, horses and red wine.

Around Christmas time when I received the news that I had been selected to ride in the race, Niall congratulated me but said ‘Max you need to get a grip and sort yourself out’ so at least he offered me lots of encouragement from the very start!

When I started training I knew basically I had no chance of riding in the race in my current condition. In fact I’d say I was a 250/1 shot and I know many of my pals would still rather be laying me than backing me at that price. Over three stone to lose and hadn’t ridden a horse for six years. 500/1 looked more a realistic price.

For the whole of January I was pounding the pavements with Niall, starting steady enough, gradually increasing the speed and distance. My diet changed dramatically. Only half pints of lager instead of full ones, and only one takeaway a week instead of five!

January was tough. After work every evening I was out running, usually it was about -3 which made it hard to get motivated. I was wearing five layers just to keep  warm. It was a long old process and some nights I did think that I was just wasting my time, but fair play to Niall, he came out with me, made me work hard and kept me going when I was lagging.

My first slight setback was when I developed shin splints after about three weeks of training which was purely down to doing too much too soon. In the last couple of years I have been extremely lazy, basically enjoying myself too much and letting myself go which meant when I started training hard early on my body didn’t know what had hit it. But I had no option but to keep going and train through the pain because I couldn’t afford to miss a couple of weeks training. I knew this because after training on an evening I’d look in the mirror and think, ‘My God I’m fat’.

For the next fortnight it was torture. Going out running, every step I took it felt like I was going to break down.  The day after running I could hardly walk I was that sore but I had to bring myself round to the thought that I had to run four miles in the evening. Same process again…..40 minutes of pain to get the run in, then wake up the next morning and not able to walk down the stairs.

At the start of February Niall dramatically decided to go to America to fulfil his lifetime ambition of cleaning boats so now I was on my own which on occasions made me lazy and disillusioned when training as there was no one there to keep me going.

I eventually realised that I needed to take a bit of a pull and do something different for the sake of my legs. I went swimming quite a bit. I’m a dreadful swimmer but soon became a doggy paddle pro.

Also instead of running the pavements of Newmarket and disturbing residents having their tea as I pounded past, I went for long brisk walks. It was at this point when another friend of mine offered to take me under their wing and help me train….enter Mr Tom Queally.

Tom is a flat jockey, and to be fair has had a very successful career riding horses but not driving cars. Tom and I would go out on an evening around Newmarket, the two moonmen marching along with our woolly hats and gloves on. Tom trying to lose a pound for his rides the following day and me trying not to lose my mind. Every pub we passed we were tempted to have a pit stop, however it was Majestic Wine at the top of town which always took some passing but we kept going.

After six weeks training I weighed myself. I didn’t dare do it any earlier because if I had only lost a few pounds after all of the work I had put in I would have thrown the towel in.

Fortunately I had lost two stone which more than anything helped me mentally as at least I had a little bit of a reward for what effort I was putting in.

People ask me how I did it. Basically, train hard, don’t eat rubbish and the biggest thing is stay off the pints! As people know I do like socialising and enjoying a good old drink but the only way you can lose weight is by not drinking 20 pints a week!

Since January 2nd I very very rarely have touched a drop during the week. A glass of wine with an evening meal is always nice but it had to stop. Sparkling water would become my new pal.

I must admit I would treat myself on a weekend to a couple of vodka cranberries to keep myself sane but that was it.

Anyway, so now I only have over a stone to lose.

I joined the Bedford Lodge gym mainly just so I was doing something different. Its warmer in the gym and occasionally there are some good looking girls which keeps the mind ticking. It also meant that I didn’t have to go out walking with Tom listening to him blabbering on about his recent chess tournament he had won.

However, sure enough, Tom miraculously became a member as well. So there we were in the gym, me on the bike, Tom on the cross trainer, two moonmen back together being athletes.

On Monday 16th February I met all of the other riders who will be riding in the race at an introduction day at York Racecourse. A really nice group of people, some who have remarkable stories and reasons for riding in the race. We’ve got to remember that this race is not about me going from a sumo wrestler to a jockey, but for raising funds for Macmillan, a charity which does such an amazing job caring for cancer patients and their families.

In my next chapter I will give you an insight of me riding out in Newmarket. As you can imagine, the stick I have had has been brutal!

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