A former Royal Marines Commando turned personal trainer put his clients through the ultimate fitness test when they joined him in an extreme challenge that involved a marathon while pulling a Nissan Navara pick-up truck.
John Di Benedetto's incredible feat saw him take to Longsands Beach in Tynemouth on Saturday, August 6, to complete a 10 mile run carrying a stretcher with a casualty, a 1k swim with the casualty, and a 1k commando crawl, before taking on the truck marathon at Beaconsfield that very same day.
The 38-year-old dad who runs personal training business, Tactical 45, is no stranger to an extreme challenge, but this time he took on the effort with no training at all in a bid to raise funds for Mental Health UK and the RNLI.
READ MORE: Former Royal Marine running marathon while pulling Land Rover in extreme challenge in Tynemouth
John's dedicated clients, Neil Drew, Lee Morrison, Mark Clayton and Alex Clafton, joined him for various stages of the challenge, which has raised more than £1,600 for charity.
"It was tough because we had never done anything like this before back-to-back and we also had the heat to deal with as it was quite warm and we were all wearing black boots," John said.
"[But] we had loads of support on the day. It was really good.
"A lot of our family and friends were there and some ex-Marines from the region came out to watch and cheer us on, which was nice to see. It couldn't have gone any better, it was just a case of mind over matter and having the grit to get on with it."
John said the 10-mile stretcher run was one of the hardest parts of the challenge taking four hours 35 minutes. The swim took 50 minutes, the crawl took 52 minutes and the truck pull finale took eight hours and 28 minutes.
John said it was a day of "blood, grit, and tears," with the team finishing at 6am on Sunday morning. "I hope it will inspire other people as it is a massive obstacle to overcome and we did no specific training for it," John said.
"If I say I'm going to do something then I am going to do it. That's where the mental side of it comes in."
To donate visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/john-Di-benedetto
READ NEXT:
- Northumbria Police, BT and Go North East - Hundreds of jobs up for grabs at Newcastle careers fair in St James' Park
- Inside Newcastle's newest cocktail bar Pepo as Horticulture to open sister venue with secret entrance
- Look around Botanist Newcastle's new rooftop terrace with DJ booth and outdoor bar after major revamp
- See inside Liberty House as landmark Newcastle pub reopens under new name after £300,000 transformation
