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Dr. Martin Lee maintains his come-what-may intention to kayak the circumference of Great Britain, despite a growing number of challenges to his plan to raise £100,000 in pledges for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society.
His launch date is April 1, 2012. Dr. Lee intends to put his kayak into the Thames at the Ahoy Centre in Greenwich. "There is absolutely no chance that I won’t launch, come wind, rain, or high water!" he declared in a recent interview.
When setting his fund-raising goal, Dr. Lee did not take into account new regulations that limit contributions by pharmaceutical companies to charitable efforts such as his.
Dr. Lee’s undertaking is inspired by his beloved aunt, Maureen Rayner, of Bournemouth in the south of England, who has active rheumatoid arthritis despite treatment with various anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs as well as rituximab. "She is severely limited in activities or daily living by her RA but is incredibly stoical and non-complaining," noted Dr. Lee.
The 32-year-old, newly minted rheumatologist estimates that it will take him 100 days to kayak the 2,600 miles.
Training must be worked in around a tight schedule of a full-time position at the Royal National Hospital of Rheumatic Diseases in Bath that involves 2-3 hours of daily commuting. By the time he gets to the gym to work out, the day has darkened and he is tired. Yet Dr. Lee does not flag. "I have been training about 2 hours a day in the gym and have been doing lots of running. As the days have been getting shorter, it has been more and more difficult getting on the water," he said.
Running has included about 10 half marathons in the last 3 months. However, an injury in the form of piriformis syndrome has hampered his training.
Food is another important part of Dr. Lee’s training regimen. "I have been trying to lose weight (unsuccessfully) to improve my half marathon times but am now looking to maintain fat stores as I will need a higher body fat percentage for the challenge to cope with the 8-9 hours of paddling a day," he said.
Leaner than his body mass index are his pledge totals. To date, Dr. Lee has raised £2,500 in pledges. "New regulations regarding donations from pharmaceutical companies have severely hampered my fundraising. If I complete the challenge but have not raised the £100,000 I will feel that I have failed as the fundraising is my main target and kayaking around the United Kingdom as a means to achieve that target," noted Dr. Lee
"I don’t know whether the same [Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry] rules apply to U.S. pharmaceutical companies as they do in the United Kingdom, but I suspect the rules are even stricter in the United States, if anything." This leaves much of the charitable donations in the hands of individuals.
Once Dr. Lee is in the water and underway, "I will be using a spot tracker device so people can visit the website and keep track of where I am. I hope to post a blog most days (which may be via friends/family). I hope to post photos fairly regularly depending on when I can get Internet access."
For more information about the challenge and to sponsor Dr. Lee, visit www.martinkayaking.co.uk.
Dr. Martin Lee maintains his come-what-may intention to kayak the circumference of Great Britain, despite a growing number of challenges to his plan to raise £100,000 in pledges for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society.
His launch date is April 1, 2012. Dr. Lee intends to put his kayak into the Thames at the Ahoy Centre in Greenwich. "There is absolutely no chance that I won’t launch, come wind, rain, or high water!" he declared in a recent interview.
When setting his fund-raising goal, Dr. Lee did not take into account new regulations that limit contributions by pharmaceutical companies to charitable efforts such as his.
Dr. Lee’s undertaking is inspired by his beloved aunt, Maureen Rayner, of Bournemouth in the south of England, who has active rheumatoid arthritis despite treatment with various anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs as well as rituximab. "She is severely limited in activities or daily living by her RA but is incredibly stoical and non-complaining," noted Dr. Lee.
The 32-year-old, newly minted rheumatologist estimates that it will take him 100 days to kayak the 2,600 miles.
Training must be worked in around a tight schedule of a full-time position at the Royal National Hospital of Rheumatic Diseases in Bath that involves 2-3 hours of daily commuting. By the time he gets to the gym to work out, the day has darkened and he is tired. Yet Dr. Lee does not flag. "I have been training about 2 hours a day in the gym and have been doing lots of running. As the days have been getting shorter, it has been more and more difficult getting on the water," he said.
Running has included about 10 half marathons in the last 3 months. However, an injury in the form of piriformis syndrome has hampered his training.
Food is another important part of Dr. Lee’s training regimen. "I have been trying to lose weight (unsuccessfully) to improve my half marathon times but am now looking to maintain fat stores as I will need a higher body fat percentage for the challenge to cope with the 8-9 hours of paddling a day," he said.
Leaner than his body mass index are his pledge totals. To date, Dr. Lee has raised £2,500 in pledges. "New regulations regarding donations from pharmaceutical companies have severely hampered my fundraising. If I complete the challenge but have not raised the £100,000 I will feel that I have failed as the fundraising is my main target and kayaking around the United Kingdom as a means to achieve that target," noted Dr. Lee
"I don’t know whether the same [Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry] rules apply to U.S. pharmaceutical companies as they do in the United Kingdom, but I suspect the rules are even stricter in the United States, if anything." This leaves much of the charitable donations in the hands of individuals.
Once Dr. Lee is in the water and underway, "I will be using a spot tracker device so people can visit the website and keep track of where I am. I hope to post a blog most days (which may be via friends/family). I hope to post photos fairly regularly depending on when I can get Internet access."
For more information about the challenge and to sponsor Dr. Lee, visit www.martinkayaking.co.uk.
Dr. Martin Lee maintains his come-what-may intention to kayak the circumference of Great Britain, despite a growing number of challenges to his plan to raise £100,000 in pledges for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society.
His launch date is April 1, 2012. Dr. Lee intends to put his kayak into the Thames at the Ahoy Centre in Greenwich. "There is absolutely no chance that I won’t launch, come wind, rain, or high water!" he declared in a recent interview.
When setting his fund-raising goal, Dr. Lee did not take into account new regulations that limit contributions by pharmaceutical companies to charitable efforts such as his.
Dr. Lee’s undertaking is inspired by his beloved aunt, Maureen Rayner, of Bournemouth in the south of England, who has active rheumatoid arthritis despite treatment with various anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs as well as rituximab. "She is severely limited in activities or daily living by her RA but is incredibly stoical and non-complaining," noted Dr. Lee.
The 32-year-old, newly minted rheumatologist estimates that it will take him 100 days to kayak the 2,600 miles.
Training must be worked in around a tight schedule of a full-time position at the Royal National Hospital of Rheumatic Diseases in Bath that involves 2-3 hours of daily commuting. By the time he gets to the gym to work out, the day has darkened and he is tired. Yet Dr. Lee does not flag. "I have been training about 2 hours a day in the gym and have been doing lots of running. As the days have been getting shorter, it has been more and more difficult getting on the water," he said.
Running has included about 10 half marathons in the last 3 months. However, an injury in the form of piriformis syndrome has hampered his training.
Food is another important part of Dr. Lee’s training regimen. "I have been trying to lose weight (unsuccessfully) to improve my half marathon times but am now looking to maintain fat stores as I will need a higher body fat percentage for the challenge to cope with the 8-9 hours of paddling a day," he said.
Leaner than his body mass index are his pledge totals. To date, Dr. Lee has raised £2,500 in pledges. "New regulations regarding donations from pharmaceutical companies have severely hampered my fundraising. If I complete the challenge but have not raised the £100,000 I will feel that I have failed as the fundraising is my main target and kayaking around the United Kingdom as a means to achieve that target," noted Dr. Lee
"I don’t know whether the same [Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry] rules apply to U.S. pharmaceutical companies as they do in the United Kingdom, but I suspect the rules are even stricter in the United States, if anything." This leaves much of the charitable donations in the hands of individuals.
Once Dr. Lee is in the water and underway, "I will be using a spot tracker device so people can visit the website and keep track of where I am. I hope to post a blog most days (which may be via friends/family). I hope to post photos fairly regularly depending on when I can get Internet access."
For more information about the challenge and to sponsor Dr. Lee, visit www.martinkayaking.co.uk.