These army veterans give 12,000 flips about mental wellbeing

“These challenges really help to focus my energy on something rather than just beating myself up or getting anxious about things.

“That’s why RE:ACT are so close to my heart. Although they don’t focus directly on mental health, they give someone that sense of purpose even before they’re struggling and create that family around them.

“Not only do they combat the problem early on, they focus that energy on helping others, and they’ve done such fantastic work in the UK throughout the pandemic it would be amazing if we could help them.”

Harrie explained that the idea of flipping a tyre for a marathon distance was born from his determination that he is neither particularly quick, nor particularly strong, though I don’t know whose book of standards he was working from when he determined this. 

“Hopefully this challenge hits the middle ground of all round resilience, and it will really push my mental resilience to the limits,” he said. 

He reached out to Louis seeking his coaching expertise for the challenge, and within a few minutes Louis replied asking if he could join in as a partner, having discovered it was in fact a pairs event in the Guinness World Record guidelines.

Incredibly, Harrie had intended on going it alone, not trusting anyone else to manage it with him. But if anyone could be trusted, it was the equally determined Louis. 

In preparation for the main event, both undertook a six-and-a-half mile solo milestone challenge, in which Harrie was forced to put his resilience to the test thanks to a particularly evil stomach bug caught from his two-year-old son. 

“It was probably the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” he admitted. 

“I couldn’t eat at all so I fainted twice, but even when I was on the floor, in a really bad place and taking five minutes to feel sorry for myself, I came back thinking just do another flip, just do another hundred metres.”

He applies this outlook to his life in a broader sense, and advocates for setting small achievable goals, always looking for ways to make the next positive step towards achieving them. 

“Once you have that resolve, it’s just about taking it one step at a time, and I think that’s going to be key on the day.”  

Louis told me that at a recent milestone event they were hit with horrendous weather, and had to struggle on in torrential rain. 

“I realised my clothes were just completely inappropriate, and my shorts were so soaked that they just kept falling down, so I ended up taking them off and finishing it in my pants!” 

He added: “We have a solid plan, but we also know that whatever happens, we can come up with a solution to any problem, there's always something you can do.”

Strong, inspiring words, but as Harry pointed out, it’s far easier said than done, especially if you’re in a dark place, doubting yourself and feeling hopeless.

Luckily this has been the perfect year to test their come-what-may resolve.

Thanks to the pandemic, their training has stretched across a period of great uncertainty, with most of our lives up in the air, and planning anything for the future an impossibility.

“Because of Covid, the date kept moving back, and it was so hard to maintain levels of motivation over such a long period of time,” Harry said.

“We went through such peaks and troughs, and at times I felt really low and just didn’t know what I was doing, but we had to find a way to adapt and to push through that, and I’m so proud of myself that I did.”