McParland ‘privileged’ to join winners of Blakiston Challenge

Archie McParland became the sixth different Northampton Saints player to cross the finishing line first in the gruelling Blakiston Challenge on Friday.

Each year since 2018, the Club’s players and staff have participated in the event at Castle Ashby, which pays homage to former Saints captain Sir Arthur ‘Freddie’ Blakiston and his life-saving heroics in World War I which earned him a Military Cross.

Dan Biggar (2018), Reuben Bird-Tulloch (2019), Piers Francis (2020), Alex Coles (2021 & 2022) and Fin Smith (2023) are the previous winners who completed two 2.5km runs, either side of a gruelling 2km of 30kg and 50kg sandbag carries, ahead of dozens of competitors.

The 2024 edition was once more played out under sweltering conditions, and it was 19-year-old scrum-half McParland that raced home to victory to get his named etched onto the honours’ board that lives outside the gym at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

“It’s an amazing feeling to win this event,” he said. “This is a challenge we think about all year round, and on the day everyone puts their body on the line.

“Obviously it’s a very physically demanding race, so how we’ve prepared in preseason so far definitely comes into it, but mentally it’s very tough as well and a massive part of it is being resilient.

“All the lads showed a huge amount of mental resilience to get through it, so I’m proud of them and very humbled to record the quickest time.

“During the season, the squad as a whole and individually are going to come up against a load of different challenges, and doing things like the Blakiston Challenge in preseason really helps you to discover how to be strong in those difficult moments.

“So it will pay dividends when we start playing again for sure; doing this together as a team makes us stronger, and we can’t wait to get playing again together in a few weeks’ time.”

McParland, who has scored four tries in ten appearances since making his debut for the men in Black, Green and Gold in September 2022, played a key role in England Under-20s’ successful Six Nations campaign earlier this year before an injury sustained in a warm-up match against Georgia cruelly ruled him out of the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa in June.

However, he showcased the extent of his recovery on Friday (16 August) to be crowned the Blakiston Challenge winner. 

Focusing on the toughest part of the event, McParland added: “The whole thing is hard. Once you get on the move, it’s a fast pace from the off, but I think the sandbags are the hardest element for sure.

“You’ve just got to keep on moving, step-by-step, going forwards. It’s not about saving energy for later, even though the final run is also really tough, you’ve just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”

“Every single time I watch the squad undertake the Blakiston Challenge, it’s incredibly impressive how hard everyone pushes themselves to get around and do it as fast as they possibly can,” said Northampton Saints Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson.

“We always talk about the players that record the fastest times, but actually the buy-in from the whole group speaks volumes about how much they care about what we’re trying to do, which is incredible from my point of view.”