Thrivin’ on a chair: My race across Europe

Hour 43. Kaunas, Lithuania. 1,600km from London:

My weary eyes flickered open, a neo-Byzantine church bathing in the rays of dawn momentarily startling me as it blurred past a dirtied window; I’d grabbed about two hours sleep, better than expected but far too little. With copious amounts of adrenaline, caffeine, and German banana chips fuelling my haggard body, I stumbled off the bus and through the city streets to grab the relevant checkpoints. As weird as it may sound, I loved every minute of it.

Despite this, we came tantalisingly close to winning

Setting off from London nearly two days earlier alongside throngs of competitors and limited to public transport, we had jogged through suburbia, heading to Herne Hill, St Pancras, Brussels and the great unknown beyond it, knowing only our final destination of Tallinn, Estonia. In Lupine Racing’s Baltic Brutal, there were clear favourites, veterans of past races vying for the overall crown. Few considered a pair of 18-year-old twins with no racing experience and precious little life experience. Despite this, we came tantalisingly close to winning.

Securing the last tickets on an obscure bus to Kaunas during the first night, we sowed the seeds for our podium early on

Opting for a successful strategy of speed through risk management, we went for the lowest risk of three possible checkpoints in Freiburg (near Switzerland), unwilling to chance our race on an unreliable Deutsche Bahn train and hoping to avoid Flixbus. Securing the last tickets on an obscure bus to Kaunas during the first night, we sowed the seeds for our podium early on. Third to the halfway point in Berlin, the aforementioned bus saw us take the lead out of Warsaw, initially heading the bus charge through the Baltics. A sold-out coach thwarted our final charge to Tallinn but we still secured 2nd, just 30 minutes behind the eventual and deserving winner.

With our winnings subsidising a comfortable hotel, it was perhaps the most enjoyable holiday I’ve ever been on

In a way, the finish line was just the start of the fun. In what remains my favourite city in the world and surrounded by likeminded people, we had a wonderful week of sightseeing, eating, drinking, and questionable karaoke as we awaited the awards ceremony on Saturday. With our winnings subsidising a comfortable hotel, it was perhaps the most enjoyable holiday I’ve ever been on. Many thanks to Lupine Racing’s staff, the winner Bram and all other competitors for making it an event to remember! Bring on 2026, where I’ll make my stand for the win once again in the Benelux (April) and Slovenia (August).