Former pro footballer and reality TV star Ashley Cain leaned over the side of the support rib to vomit. He and Dougal Glaisher were taking turns emptying the contents of their stomachs as they made their way to a GPS point in the sea off the coast from Ravensglass, across from the Isle of Man. The stunning Lake District stretched out to the east, but they were headed up the coast to Scotland. Exactly the opposite of what the wind had in mind. Thrashed by waves that pitched the rib up and down until they hurled, the two paddlers hadn’t even gotten into their surfskis yet. On 30th of June, Dougal had already done 550 miles of paddling from Land’s End. Ashley had done the same, plus 1,825 miles of running and cycling.

Six hours later that day, they finally got off the water. Ashley and Dougal had covered just 4.3 miles.

You probably know Dougal Glaisher from when he decimated the record for circumnavigating the UK by kayak: 67 days became 40 days in 2023. Or when he finished 4th with Billy Butler in the Devizes to Westminster race that year. It was really just a long training session for Dougal (for his partner, this was the* race where Billy went blind). Or you may remember Dougal from his original Epic Adventure when he paddled his surfski from the Northern coast of France, down the coast of Italy, along the coasts of Greece, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia, all the way to Venice, chronicling his journey with Type 1 diabetes the whole way.

As much as Dougal loves his Epic Adventures, he had a hard time getting back on the water after last year’s circumnavigation. The paddle took its toll on him, mentally and physically: “you don’t really want to get back into a boat after that.” And yet, when the opportunity arose for Dougal to support Ashley Cain on the final leg of his “Ultraman” attempt, he just couldn’t say no.

“Ultraman”: three times the length of the UK by foot, bike, and kayak

What makes it an “Ultraman”? Starting from Land’s End, running to John O’Groats, cycling back to Land’s End, and finally turning around for a third leg by surfski. As far as is known, Ashley Cain is the first to invent the challenge and will soon be the first to complete it. He started in April and expects to finish before the end of July.

• 896 miles running (complete)
• 929 miles cycling (complete)
• 1,049 miles paddling (in progress, 96% complete)

Ashley Cain is almost certainly the first person to do this, not just because no other attempt has been recorded, but because the undertaking sounds unwise bordering on impossible. Some ultra endurance athletes, like Dougal, genuinely enjoy putting themselves through pain for the joy of adventures like this (“in some weird way”, Dougal acknowledges). But for Ashley, there’s very little enjoyment – all that pain is to raise money for The Azaylia Foundation and preserve the memory of his daughter.

The Azaylia Foundation

In April 2021, Ashley and his partner Safiyya Vorajee lost their daughter Azaylia to cancer when she was just eight months old. After months of hospitalisation and heartache, Ashley and Safiyya had managed to raise £1.6 million for Azaylia to receive treatment in Singapore for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Azaylia passed before she could go. Devastated, Ashley and Safiyya decided to use the funds to start a charity in their daughter’s name.

Although cancer is the primary cause of death for children in the UK, childhood cancer receives only 2% of cancer funding. The Azaylia Foundation provides institutional funding for research via their PhD Scholars programme, as well as offering support for individual cases when a child’s treatment is not already covered by the NHS.

As Ashley nears the end of his Ultraman, he has just passed the £150,000 mark and raised his goal to £200,000 for The Azaylia Foundation.

How do you prepare for something so… far(-fetched)?

Ashley Cain might not be as recogniseable a name on the ultra paddling scene as Dougal Glaisher, but Cain isn’t exactly fresh into the boat. In 2023, Ashley completed both the Devizes to Westminster (DW) and the Yukon 1000 with Gary Johnson, a 5+ time DW finisher. For all the challenge offered by the DW, the Yukon 1000 is another beast entirely. Instead of portaging 75+ locks and dodging pleasure boats, racers navigate a labyrinthine lattice of islands and oxbows, keeping their bear spray handy during the 6-hour mandatory rest periods on shore. Not just the place of “world’s longest paddle race,” Cain described the Yukon 1000 as the “world’s toughest survival endurance race.” More people have been up Everest than have been beyond Dawson City, Yukon.

For all his ultra paddling experience gained during the DW and Yukon, Ashley Cain’s Ultraman required new skills. Where he’d been in a tandem kayak before, he would be in a solo surfski now. Where he’d raced flat canals and raging rivers, he’d have to learn how to handle the variable swells of the sea. And all that would be after he’d run from Land’s End to John O’Groats and cycled back. Tasked with preparing Ashley for the journey, Dougal figured “we had to get him used to the rough stuff quickly.” Back in March, before the start of the Ultraman, Dougal decided to take Ashley out from Exmouth.

Even an experienced paddler would have looked at the surf that day with scepticism, but Dougal hopped into the tandem surfski with Ashley and let him assume that it was a pretty typical day: “He had zero expectations and didn’t know what would be classed as difficult.” Ashley made it through the surf, proving his exceptional athletic talent could translate effectively into ocean paddling. But as Ashley clambered back onto the ski during remount practice, he and Dougal discovered an unexpected problem. Ashley’s body fat percentage was so low that the cold practically immobilised him. He could get back onto the ski, but physically couldn’t paddle back. Having frozen fingers from Raynaud’s Syndrome didn’t help either. Ashley and Dougal made it back safely to shore in the tandem that day and hoped for better conditions during the main event. At least the temperatures would be warmer by midsummer.

Arctic blasts

That first training on the ocean turned out to be a frustratingly accurate predictor of what they would face for the Ultraman. As Brits all over the UK have questioned whether what we’ve experienced since June can be considered “summer,” the Met Office explained that the gloom is due to northerly and northwesterly winds bringing cold air down from the Arctic. In other words – exactly the wrong direction for anyone trying to paddle north up the west coast of the UK. Wild weather has been the main factor in preventing Mike Lambert from closing in on Dougal’s 2023 circumnavigation record. With Ashley, Dougal is moving at a slower pace for the Ultraman, but all three of the record-chasers have fought the same Arctic winds up the coast this year.

Despite everything, Ashley has carried on. Dougal has been impressed: “Ashley is paddling through conditions that a lot of sea kayakers and flatwater paddlers wouldn’t be able to handle. And he’s not exactly fresh after the running and cycling legs.” For Ashley, the kayak leg has been particularly tough: it’s slower than the running and cycling legs, and each day’s progress is determined more by the weather than his effort. When he’s on the sea, it’s also incredibly isolating. On the road and to some extent on the rivers, he was buoyed on by cheering fans and families facing childhood cancer who would come out to thank him for his work. But on the sea, it’s just Ashley against the wind. Cain’s natural athleticism is undeniable, but his ability to keep going back for more pain comes from grief for his daughter. In Cain’s words: “What can break a man that has already been shattered to pieces?”

The finish line

For Dougal the Epic Adventurer, it’s been a different experience to play the supporting role. In a way, he says, it’s more pressure than when he’s on his own: “in the past, it’s only myself to let down. On this trip, I’m planning tides, making safety assessments, and it’s Ashley who will suffer the consequences of those.” He’s enjoyed the challenge of organising the trip though, and says “it’s a joy to spend the whole day on the sea.” At the end of the day, it’s another Epic Adventure.

*The most recent race where Billy went blind. Not the only one.