LJMU professor trains Cheryl Cole
27 February 2009
Professor Greg Whyte, former Olympic athlete, has a track record in training celebs for charity events.
A professor from Liverpool John Moores University is coaching the Comic Relief team climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and will join them on the expedition.
Greg Whyte, Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science, has trained the nine celebs who are taking on the tallest mountain in Africa. Along with Greg, Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Fearne Cotton, Alesha Dixon, Chris Moyles, Ronan Keating, Ben Shephard, Denise Van Outen and Kimberley Walsh will start the ascent on March 1. At 19,340 feet above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world and it will take the team seven days to reach the summit.
A former international modern pentathlete, Greg competed in two Olympic Games and has won European bronze and World Championship silver medals. He is one of Britain’s leading sport research scientists and has worked as consultant physiologist in a large number of Olympic and professional sports.
With this vast range of experience, Greg coached David Walliams when he swam across the channel and later trained Adrian Chiles and Alan Shearer for their two-day cycle from Newcastle to London. He also coached James Cracknell when he travelled from the UK to Africa using only his own body strength.
This is the first time Greg has trained such a large team, however, and he says he’s really enjoyed the experience.
He commented: “I love doing this, it’s great fun and I think the celeb element adds to that. They’re all really great and they all bring something different to the group.
“Alesha’s really fun, she’s an action girl! Moylesy is an incredibly nice guy and I’ve known Denise for a long time. Each and every one of them is giving up their time for nothing and they are all extremely dedicated people.”
Greg is pushing the team both psychologically and physically and has designed a specific training program for each person.
He added: “The art of coaching is to keep it fresh and interesting. The hard thing is getting out and about to exercise because of their fame. As they’re recognised a lot, most of the training has had to be done on treadmills which can be very boring.”
As an environment specialist, Greg is especially keen to get the participants prepared for the climate. They have to regularly exercise in an altitude chamber, where the oxygen is reduced, and he has also taken a number of the team up Mount Snowdon.
He said: “I’m trying to prepare the group as much as I can for the psychological aspect of it all as well as the physical. It is going to be hard work. We will be climbing for seven days and it gets tougher each step of the way but if they can mentally keep it together then they are more likely to succeed.”
The training programme also includes over-distance walking - walking further than the distance up the mountain. Although the Kilimanjaro climb will be a shorter distance, it will be tougher because of the reduced oxygen.
Each moment of the team's climb will be captured for a BBC documentary. It will be broadcast during the week leading up to Red Nose Day (Friday, March 13).
Their efforts will raise money to help change lives across Africa and the UK. In particular the celebrities will be exploring how they can help tackle malaria, a disease which kills a child every 30 seconds across Africa. In Tanzania, where Kilimanjaro is situated, malaria is the leading killer of children.
To sponsor the team, visit: www.rednoseday.com/sponsortheteam
