BigRig’s marathon town centre charity challenge

Former professional boxer-turned-Hyrox ace, Warren Sinden, will be taking on a marathon challenge this Saturday in memory of a mate who took their own life during the pandemic.

Known as BigRig during his boxing days, Warren runs the town’s Rigorous Gym in the quarry, and has become a formidable competitor on the national Hyrox scene, a fast-growing phenomenon that pushes competitors to their mental and physical limits.

But this Saturday from 11.30am, Warren will be set up outside the Town Hall with a SkiErg with the intention of doing a full marathon of 42,195 metres in less than three hours. SkiErg is a piece of equipment that simulates cross country ski training.

“I’m struggling with a knee injury at the moment and wanted to set my focus on something that kept me focused away from running and Hyrox,” Warren told us.

“I wanted to do something different and fairly unique and this is what I came up with. It’s not a very done thing. I set myself a goal of sub three hours but since then with training I can see that 2hrs 45mins is achievable, but everything will have to come good on the day.”

Warren is raising money for MIND mental health charity as it is “something that’s close to us all”, after he lost a friend during the lockdown who he believes could have been helped by an organisation like MIND.

“There will be two other Skierg machines set up on the day for everyone to get involved. I’m running a competition for fastest 1,000m adult male and female and also fastest 500m boy and girl, so there will be the chance for everyone to be involved,” he said. 

Warren hopes that his efforts will inspire others to “find something in life that makes you tick, gets you excited”.

“It can’t just be all about work,” he said. “There needs to be that thing you love and want to focus on. Without that I think we all get a bit lost and down. You’ve got to find that thing that gets you excited.”

His furthest ski to date is 35,000m, but he is confident of completing the full marathon in a bid to raise £1,000 for the charity.

If you would like to support Warren, you can click here.