After cycling across Asia Ironman faces chess challenge

Chris Benson is not a man to shrink from a challenge so when he needed to return to the UK from China for his wedding he decided to cycle all the way.

That meant a ride of 4,800 miles for Chris and it took 48 days of riding 100 mile stints, the most worrying parts coming from border officials at the beginning and end of his journey. He also had to cope repeatedly with dogs who took delight in chasing his cycle. He surmised they were either wild dogs or guard dogs and eventually he took to riding on busy roads to avoid them.

Chris had been working in Shanghai where he met his future wife Turan. who hails from Azerbaijan. It was there that he became an Ironman-a successful competitor in a triathlon which involves a 2.4 mile swim, an 112 mile cycling leg and a 26 mile run.

Chris was already a keen cyclist and a capable runner but his problem was that he was a weak swimmer by most standards and it took him months and months of training to reach a stage where he had a fighting chance of completing the swimming leg of an Ironman event.

Complete the course he did and that, plus an insatiable appetite for challenging himself, set him up for his potentially dangerous and epic cycle journey.

He decided to start his ride from the western edge of China but found that the Chinese authorities were suspicious of poeple leaving the country. “There was a five kilometer gap between the border between China and Kazahkstan, lines with watch towers and barbed wire to keep people out. Because of Covid the borders of Central asia had b een closed for nearly three years and there there was nothing on the Internet about people having tried it” said Chris.

Initially Chris slept in a tent but then discovered that accommodation was very cheap. “Hotels were often less than £15 per night and they did incredible buffet breakfasts, perfect for a hungry cyclist. Then I reached Europe and it was back to the tent” said Chris.

His journey took him through 16 countries, with Central Asia proving the most difficult to navigate, but also providing the most welcoming people. They were fr m all backgrounds and always ready to help and provide food and the goodwill made the journey feel easier .

That was until he reached Hungary where the border guard looked askance at the UK passport. “This is the EU” he said. “You can’t cross with that passport. Only the main border crossing post 70 kilometers away allows those”. Chris was forced to make the long detour.

Back i n the Uk and working as a manager at Aldi head office at Atherstone , Chris initially cycled to work but he has now trasitioned to to running with the Lichfield Running Club. He has now set himself a more sedate target. He is trying to become a proficient chess player at Lichfield Chess Club where his wife Turan has made a great start and quickly shown that she is one of the highest ranked players in the club’s history.

He has entered the club’s very succesful Swiss tournament which involves playing a match each month until the end of the season. He and his wife now have something else to celebrate-the birth of their first child last week. Turan kept up her chess playing until a few days days before the birth. They are that sort of family.