Getting tough in honour of pal (From Oxford Mail)

Getting tough in honour of pal

7:50am Saturday 31st January 2009 in News

A GROUP of Oxford endurance runners will wade through icy waters, dodge electric fences and crawl under barbed wire in honour of a friend who died in a climbing accident.

Team Ivan will tackle the annual Tough Guy event in Staffordshire on Sunday in memory of Ivan Lissin , an extreme-sports enthusiast who completed the same event in 2007.

Mr Lissin, 22, died in hospital from head injuries when he fell from a cliff into the sea at Anvil Point, near Swanage, Dorset, on January 27, last year.

The Oxford University graduate and former Cherwell School pupil, of Hugh Allen Crescent, Marston, discovered a passion for climbing after joining the group of runners two years ago.

Group leader John Chelsom said: “We were friends of Ivan and we ran with him in the Tough Guy challenge in 2007. Sadly, on the same day we were doing last year’s event, he fell while out climbing.

“We asked his family if we could run in his name this year and they thought it was a great idea.”

The 15-strong team, which includes two women, hopes to raise £10,000 for the new Oxford Cancer Centre by taking on the notoriously difficult obstacle course.

Mr Chelsom, the group’s oldest member at 47, said: “Tough Guy is described by the organisers as the world’s toughest one-day endurance event.”

For more information see www.teamivan.org