He’s a West End star which means years spent dancing on stage and a business start-up owner which means sleepless nights building his body wipe brand, Swypes, but now, Travis Kerry takes on his most mentally and physically challenging feat to date: completing a 50km bear crawl, the same distance as an ultramarathon. Taking place on 30th November – men’s mental health awareness month, Travis is raising funds for both Movember and the Mental Health Foundation.
Hoping to earn not one, but two Guinness World Records – being the first human to crawl over 50km and crawl the ‘fastest’ marathon too, the challenge will see him bear crawl the London Landmarks Half Marathon route, twice. Proving how the mind can overcome extreme conditions, and when paired with physical fitness, anything is possible Travis wants no man to struggle in silence.
“I knew I wanted to break a record, and I knew I wanted to do it in fitness, and I’m pretty efficient in bear crawling. The day I saw the record was even possible I got on the treadmill and managed 1km so I thought – if I can do 1km, I can do 50!” he says.
With just a month to go before the gargantuan task, Travis is now inviting people to follow his journey on social media (@trav_kerry), donate and come and watch his 50km crawl. Or even join in his record breaker if they wish to.
THE MOTIVATION:
Growing up in Mansfield, the eldest of three siblings, Travis learnt about resilience and responsibility fast when his dad left the family while he was still young. Falling to his mother and grandfather to take on the lion’s share, Travis knew he wanted a forge a career in dancing and even after undergoing two knee surgeries in his first year of dance college, he was not dissuaded from his dream.
“Seeing my mum balance two full time jobs, three kids and putting us through school, football, gymnastics, dance class and still keeping food on the table – her toughness has given me the perspective that as an adult, no matter how much you feel like life is piling on top of you, you can keep taking one step forwards,” says Travis. “This challenge will give me the platform to let more kids, dreamers and believers know that anything you put your mind to is truly possible.”
THE TRAINING:
Callouses, blisters, back ache, exhaustion have become regular obstacles to contend with but with almost a year of training under his belt, Travis has become conditioned to the pain and side effects of what lies ahead. Training 2-3 hours a day, 19-21 hours a week, he likens it to a marathon training block, but for bear crawling. So not just long runs and speed workouts, but exercises and movements that train his wrists, shoulders, grip and hand strength and stability on all fours.
“This one crazy exercise my trainer came up with was putting my feet on the seat of a rowing machine and my hands in bags of ice on the floor to almost fry the nerves in my hands, then I’d bring my knees into my chest, it was a killer. After that I’d go into a set of push ups on the rings or something to burn out my chest,” he explains. “Power, speed and overall mobility has been key.”
That’s just the physical toll in the lead up. On the day, there will be weather conditions to contend with, as well as the mental drain of looking at a pavement for over 24 hours (Travis hopes to complete his challenge in under 29 hours).
THE UPDATE:
With a month to go, Travis is smashing 20-minute crawl blocks. If the callouses and blisters get too much, he’s learnt to adjust his hand position to crawl on his fists for a stint. “It really goes to show how much your body can physiologically adapt when you apply intention to your training. The first outdoor crawl I did in Battersea Park I tried crawling in regular gym gloves that I’d been using on the treadmill – they didn’t cut it and it ended up stopping me using my phone properly for a few days,” he admits.
His experience as a dance captain in the west end has also brought with it pros and cons. Adept at lengthy durations of exercise, his stamina on stage has helped with endurance, however playlists have proved problematic, with Travis choosing to train to podcasts and audio books. “Because of my understanding of music and rhythm through performing, I’ve started being able to guess how long I’ve been crawling by knowing each song has a verse, chorus, bridge and final chorus on average lasting 3.5-4 minutes per song, so my brain has started predicting time which is crazy. Episodes of ‘Shark Tank’ or ‘Dragons’ Den’ have become my go-to,” says Travis.
THE MISSION:
With an aim to raise 10k in sponsorship, Travis wants men to realise that there’s always a way to figure things out because ‘you’ve survived 100% of your darkest days so far’. A challenge that represents hope, prevention and showing up, even when it hurts, to sponsor Travis or witness his unforgiveable training regime, go to https://givestar.io/gs/world-record-bear-crawl-ultramarathon–crawl-to-heal.
