Driven since childhood to follow in his father’s footsteps to join the forces, Ben Davidson was keen to make sure his application was as strong as possible as he came to his last year of school.
‘If you’re applying for the military, you need to go out and get some life experience, be away on your own for an extended period of time. Relatively self-supported would be the best,’ he said.
His love of cycling saw him then concoct a mega challenge for the autumn, which would eventually see him cover 3,525 kilometres over a 51-day period, passing through France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Italy.
‘The toughest bit was definitely going through the Alps at the end,’ he said.
‘I did 1,600 metres of elevation in a 50km day.
‘It was about a seven-hour day of just straight cycling, and it was tough. But worth it in the end.’
Finishing the challenge in early November, he was glad to find he had learned some lessons along the way to apply to his military ambitions.
‘First was organisation. Knowing where my kit is, knowing where I need to be, knowing where I want to be, how much food I have, how much water I have, where I need to stock up, things like that. Also, the building of that mental fortitude. There were a lot of days where I thought, why am I doing this? I don’t really want to be out here,’ he said.
Key in helping him push through those mental blocks was the thought of the good cause he was cycling in aid of, the Brain Tumour Charity.
‘When I was 14, a friend of mine died of a brain tumour pretty unexpectedly. He was there on the Friday and then he wasn’t on the Monday,’ Mr Davidson explained.
Currently, he has managed to raise just less than £5,000.
‘The target was originally £1,000. So the fact that we’re nearly five times that is amazing,’ he added.
Mr Davidson was also delighted to find that his challenge did indeed serve him well in the military application process, and he will begin his basic training with the Navy in the next few weeks.
‘I’ll be starting in Cornwall for 10 weeks, and then it’s 30 weeks of officer training, and then I’ll be going to Yeovil for helicopter training after that,’ he said.
Although nervous, he is also feeling very excited.
‘I can’t wait. It’s been a long time in the application process and just waiting to be old enough to actually apply. So, it’s nice that it’s finally happening,’ he said.
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