MAIN » ARTICLESThe Challenges
In the many boring days at sixth form and drunken moments lots of challenges have come and gone. Many of them happened at the time to much hilarity and some were longer in waiting, some still to be finished. Most people love a good challenge, and these are the major ones the community has seen over the last few months.
1. The 100m Unicycle Challenge
The challenge: Learn to unicycle and then ride 100m in one go.
One day Hendy was dreaming about cars and planetarion when his mind changed to unicycles - "i thought it would be cool to learn, after watching big brother 1, with the craig". It turned out to be one of the most wacky and curious challenges ever. A couple of years after his initial spasm of excitement, and with a lot of cash injection the funding was there for the dream to be forfilled. After speaking to David Randall on the matter, an argument was had. Dave was sure that learning to unicycle 100m was beyond any man of this earth but Rob was not one to let doubts get him down.
Hendy picked up the challenge quickly, getting into the spirit of things by buying his own one-wheeled wonder on ebay for "around £80". With an initial barrage of practise including videos and images for his fans all over the world, on the internet, hopes were high. Since then however things have gone quiet and although the potential is definately there, no-one can say if the big man will come through in the end.
2. The Rawson Nosebleed Challenge
The challenge: Make Iain Rawson's nose bleed by Christmas 2003.
The more aggressive of the two challenges, one probably wouldn't have called Randall a pathetic little bitch if he had turned Hendy down. Alas, David was all for causing pain to one of his best friends and accepted on the spot, much to my own surprise. Naturally there were quickly a lot of theories on how to get the job done ranging from a simple single-fist approach to the more abstract voodoo doll/japanese water torture methods. There is nothing like the mutual appreciation of an act of violence to bring friends together. I have to admit housing reasonable doubts over the legitimacy of Dave's claim that he would carry this out easily, but his enthusiasm soon won me over and it was simply a matter of waiting.
Months passed with no action until a date was finally set. The location: Leeds Festival, the plan: to get pissed as a Spaniad and go straight for the gold. A couple of nights passed until Dave was reminded that he had planned to carry out the deed that very weekend. He swore that come darkness he would execute an unsuspected blow to the nose that would get the claret flowing. Later on the drink came out to play, and a few san migs and a drop of vodka later sir david randall was ready for action. I had also treated myself to the occasional can of carlsberg and was feeling the excitement of the moment. About as silently as he could being completely smashed, Dave crept towards Iain's tent, almost falling over on the way and unzipped the side door. Making his way inside he turned and shushed me to be quiet, even though I hadn't said anything. Pausing for moment, the tension came to a climax until we heard a voice - "What do you want Dave?". We were busted.
Since then there has been no major mention of Robert Hendy's challenge to David Randall, but the deadline is not over until christmas and I'm sure there will be no conceding until time runs out.
3. The No-haircut Challenge
The challenge: To go for as long as possible without a haircut.
This one is pretty self explanatory, and I won't go into much detail basically because I lost. After about 4 months I couldn't take it anymore and went down to Michael Richards. Not only did the £15 for the haircut get me, but a £5 note to Pandy for winning added salt to the wound.
To this day Pandy is still carrying on growing his hair, perhaps somebody should tell him that he can stop now he's won. The crazy fool.
4. Drunken Drinking Challenge
The challenge: Who can drink who "under the table".
This came about at my house during a night of excessive drinking and chaos that saw James wearing a light shade on his head as 'Light Shade Man' and everyone deciding to throw flour on the bbq, completely covering my patio and Ryan's trousers. The scene was supposed to be a relaxed game of Centurian in my lounge. The game had been put off for quite a while as we waited for the latecomers to arrive and settle in, one of these including the challengee David Randall. Everyone had been drinking for quite some time, so many people decided quite sensibly not to play. One of those who wasn't sensible enough to make this decision (decision possibly influenced entirely by alcohol already consumed) was Rusty, so once the game got started, competitive streaks began to show and it wasn't long before the gaunlet was off the wall and on the floor at Randy's feet.
The conversation was something like this:
Rusty (to Dave): I could drink you under the table
Dave: I could drink you under the table
Rusty: I could drink you under the table
Jay: I could drink you both under the table, faggots.
Now we are waiting for the duel to take place in which Rusty and Dave drink spirits until the loser passes out/collapses, proving once and for all who can drink who "under the table".
5. The Pringles Challenge
The challenge: Eating a whole tub of pringles in as short a time as possible.
The pringle challenge was most amusing; basically it was who could eat a whole tub of pringles in the shortest amount of time. A supplementary drink was allowed, to aid digestion, and crowd support was very welcome to help overcome the indigestion pain. At beale’s party Hindmarsh was the winner, consuming an entire tub in an incredible 7 minutes and 5 seconds. Ixer and Schmiken were runners-up, each eating over half a tub in the same time.
Challenge cup holder: HINEY
Main challengers: Ixer, Mike
Ixer, one of the defeated challengers had the following to say: "The pringle challenge, most amusing. Basically it was who could eat a whole tub of pringles quickest with the aid of a liquid lubricant (a drink of some description). I performed averagely, but my downfall was only having the tap to drink from, I didn't grab any other sort of drink. Smiken off LJ performed fairly well. Big Dave performed stunningly comsuming a whole tube in 7 mins 5 secs, beating me and Mike hands down. It was amazingly difficult, and well after half a tube you no longer notice the crowd. Dave found out after that it was 565cal per 100g and he had just consumed 200g, over 1000cal.
6. The Pandy Uptime Challenge
The challenge: Computer uptime with evidence
This challenge was purely computer-based. The simple premise of it was to leave your PC 'online' for as long as possible without turning it off or restarting. The internet has nothing to do with it. There were numerous ways of measuring this including StatBar, a nice little piece of software which told you just what the hell was going on at a point in time. Screenshots were considered good enough evidence and I know myself and hendrix took up the challenge, maybe others as well. Pandy set the record at 9 days as Sir Rob Hendy explains:
rob says: "pandy either did 9 days or 11 days, and then i did 16 days, and then 25days23hours"
7. The Downtime Challenge
The challenge: David Randall's Downtime Challenge
"The randy downtime challenge was concieved after he went a considerable amount of time without 'applying the handbrake'. he went on a family holiday, where he didn't think it would be appropriate, and when he got back, he wanted to see how far he could go, as it turned out, a nice round number of 28 days. at the end of the challenge, apparently it "ricocheted off the ceiling" to date, no man has been able to match this feat of self-control and Buddha-like concentration" - rib
Many people have since attempted this challenge, but failed miserably. One case I remember that stands out was JB's attempt, which I doubted from the beginning. It wasn't the failure that 'comes' to mind, but that he decide to announce the fact he had just failed the challenge to Iain Rawson on msn just afterwards.
8. The 40 Nugget Challenge
The challenge: To eat 2x 20 boxes of McDonalds chicken nuggets
This, although one of the last challenges mentioned, took place in February of this year all the way over in Disneyland Paris. The location was McDonalds, employer of the Chalengee D.F. Randall and one of the audience; Alan Edkins. The huge giant M on the outside was a symbol for the collossal nature of the challenge we were about to witness. After watching Oz roll about on the floor for a few minutes trying to claim he had slipped on a spilt drink, the food was in and we were ready to rock.
40 nuggets in 2x 20 boxes were put out in front of him. 3 other members of the audience themselves had 20 boxes but they were only facing half the volume of low-quality chicken Dave was. The first box went down quite well, but around 30 things really started to go downhill with Randall even going to the toilet at one point, followed, by fear of him throwing up - which would result in instant disqualification. This didn't happen however, and he graciously retired at around 34 nuggets:
Since that day not one person has dared to go for this challenge, let alone consider doing it. Despite failing to complete it Dave will always have a great amount of respect just for taking it on against all odds, and maybe one day he will return to defeat it.
Written by Jay
1. The 100m Unicycle Challenge
The challenge: Learn to unicycle and then ride 100m in one go.
One day Hendy was dreaming about cars and planetarion when his mind changed to unicycles - "i thought it would be cool to learn, after watching big brother 1, with the craig". It turned out to be one of the most wacky and curious challenges ever. A couple of years after his initial spasm of excitement, and with a lot of cash injection the funding was there for the dream to be forfilled. After speaking to David Randall on the matter, an argument was had. Dave was sure that learning to unicycle 100m was beyond any man of this earth but Rob was not one to let doubts get him down.
Hendy picked up the challenge quickly, getting into the spirit of things by buying his own one-wheeled wonder on ebay for "around £80". With an initial barrage of practise including videos and images for his fans all over the world, on the internet, hopes were high. Since then however things have gone quiet and although the potential is definately there, no-one can say if the big man will come through in the end.
2. The Rawson Nosebleed Challenge
The challenge: Make Iain Rawson's nose bleed by Christmas 2003.
The more aggressive of the two challenges, one probably wouldn't have called Randall a pathetic little bitch if he had turned Hendy down. Alas, David was all for causing pain to one of his best friends and accepted on the spot, much to my own surprise. Naturally there were quickly a lot of theories on how to get the job done ranging from a simple single-fist approach to the more abstract voodoo doll/japanese water torture methods. There is nothing like the mutual appreciation of an act of violence to bring friends together. I have to admit housing reasonable doubts over the legitimacy of Dave's claim that he would carry this out easily, but his enthusiasm soon won me over and it was simply a matter of waiting.
Months passed with no action until a date was finally set. The location: Leeds Festival, the plan: to get pissed as a Spaniad and go straight for the gold. A couple of nights passed until Dave was reminded that he had planned to carry out the deed that very weekend. He swore that come darkness he would execute an unsuspected blow to the nose that would get the claret flowing. Later on the drink came out to play, and a few san migs and a drop of vodka later sir david randall was ready for action. I had also treated myself to the occasional can of carlsberg and was feeling the excitement of the moment. About as silently as he could being completely smashed, Dave crept towards Iain's tent, almost falling over on the way and unzipped the side door. Making his way inside he turned and shushed me to be quiet, even though I hadn't said anything. Pausing for moment, the tension came to a climax until we heard a voice - "What do you want Dave?". We were busted.
Since then there has been no major mention of Robert Hendy's challenge to David Randall, but the deadline is not over until christmas and I'm sure there will be no conceding until time runs out.
3. The No-haircut Challenge
The challenge: To go for as long as possible without a haircut.
This one is pretty self explanatory, and I won't go into much detail basically because I lost. After about 4 months I couldn't take it anymore and went down to Michael Richards. Not only did the £15 for the haircut get me, but a £5 note to Pandy for winning added salt to the wound.
To this day Pandy is still carrying on growing his hair, perhaps somebody should tell him that he can stop now he's won. The crazy fool.
4. Drunken Drinking Challenge
The challenge: Who can drink who "under the table".
This came about at my house during a night of excessive drinking and chaos that saw James wearing a light shade on his head as 'Light Shade Man' and everyone deciding to throw flour on the bbq, completely covering my patio and Ryan's trousers. The scene was supposed to be a relaxed game of Centurian in my lounge. The game had been put off for quite a while as we waited for the latecomers to arrive and settle in, one of these including the challengee David Randall. Everyone had been drinking for quite some time, so many people decided quite sensibly not to play. One of those who wasn't sensible enough to make this decision (decision possibly influenced entirely by alcohol already consumed) was Rusty, so once the game got started, competitive streaks began to show and it wasn't long before the gaunlet was off the wall and on the floor at Randy's feet.
The conversation was something like this:
Rusty (to Dave): I could drink you under the table
Dave: I could drink you under the table
Rusty: I could drink you under the table
Jay: I could drink you both under the table, faggots.
Now we are waiting for the duel to take place in which Rusty and Dave drink spirits until the loser passes out/collapses, proving once and for all who can drink who "under the table".
5. The Pringles Challenge
The challenge: Eating a whole tub of pringles in as short a time as possible.
The pringle challenge was most amusing; basically it was who could eat a whole tub of pringles in the shortest amount of time. A supplementary drink was allowed, to aid digestion, and crowd support was very welcome to help overcome the indigestion pain. At beale’s party Hindmarsh was the winner, consuming an entire tub in an incredible 7 minutes and 5 seconds. Ixer and Schmiken were runners-up, each eating over half a tub in the same time.
Challenge cup holder: HINEY
Main challengers: Ixer, Mike
Ixer, one of the defeated challengers had the following to say: "The pringle challenge, most amusing. Basically it was who could eat a whole tub of pringles quickest with the aid of a liquid lubricant (a drink of some description). I performed averagely, but my downfall was only having the tap to drink from, I didn't grab any other sort of drink. Smiken off LJ performed fairly well. Big Dave performed stunningly comsuming a whole tube in 7 mins 5 secs, beating me and Mike hands down. It was amazingly difficult, and well after half a tube you no longer notice the crowd. Dave found out after that it was 565cal per 100g and he had just consumed 200g, over 1000cal.
6. The Pandy Uptime Challenge
The challenge: Computer uptime with evidence
This challenge was purely computer-based. The simple premise of it was to leave your PC 'online' for as long as possible without turning it off or restarting. The internet has nothing to do with it. There were numerous ways of measuring this including StatBar, a nice little piece of software which told you just what the hell was going on at a point in time. Screenshots were considered good enough evidence and I know myself and hendrix took up the challenge, maybe others as well. Pandy set the record at 9 days as Sir Rob Hendy explains:
rob says: "pandy either did 9 days or 11 days, and then i did 16 days, and then 25days23hours"
7. The Downtime Challenge
The challenge: David Randall's Downtime Challenge
"The randy downtime challenge was concieved after he went a considerable amount of time without 'applying the handbrake'. he went on a family holiday, where he didn't think it would be appropriate, and when he got back, he wanted to see how far he could go, as it turned out, a nice round number of 28 days. at the end of the challenge, apparently it "ricocheted off the ceiling" to date, no man has been able to match this feat of self-control and Buddha-like concentration" - rib
Many people have since attempted this challenge, but failed miserably. One case I remember that stands out was JB's attempt, which I doubted from the beginning. It wasn't the failure that 'comes' to mind, but that he decide to announce the fact he had just failed the challenge to Iain Rawson on msn just afterwards.
8. The 40 Nugget Challenge
The challenge: To eat 2x 20 boxes of McDonalds chicken nuggets
This, although one of the last challenges mentioned, took place in February of this year all the way over in Disneyland Paris. The location was McDonalds, employer of the Chalengee D.F. Randall and one of the audience; Alan Edkins. The huge giant M on the outside was a symbol for the collossal nature of the challenge we were about to witness. After watching Oz roll about on the floor for a few minutes trying to claim he had slipped on a spilt drink, the food was in and we were ready to rock.
40 nuggets in 2x 20 boxes were put out in front of him. 3 other members of the audience themselves had 20 boxes but they were only facing half the volume of low-quality chicken Dave was. The first box went down quite well, but around 30 things really started to go downhill with Randall even going to the toilet at one point, followed, by fear of him throwing up - which would result in instant disqualification. This didn't happen however, and he graciously retired at around 34 nuggets:
Since that day not one person has dared to go for this challenge, let alone consider doing it. Despite failing to complete it Dave will always have a great amount of respect just for taking it on against all odds, and maybe one day he will return to defeat it.
Written by Jay