A friend of the 5pm Dining blog recently celebrate his 50th birthday party. Like many a bloke of a similar vintage, his middle age crisis has manifested itself in him setting himself increasingly more absurd physical challenges.

For his fortieth, he decided to walk the GR20, the long distance walking route across the mountain tops of Corsica. For this most recent milestone, he has taken up triathlons.

I’m very glad for him – if slightly concerned that a huge coronary won’t be far away. However, I’m not going to be tempted to join in.

I briefly dipped my toe in the Corsican adventure – an unhappy experience which confirmed that I am much happier on a dining seat than a mountain side.

Nonetheless, my chum has been gently trying to convince me that I should train for a ‘tri’. I’m holding firm but I may try to encourage him to train with me for the Wineathlon which is being held in Glasgow in September.

Wine sampling stops

Essentially, it’s a 10k run which is punctuated by three wine sampling stops, each stop dedicated to a different wine region of the world.

The company behind it also seem to run a Pieathlon and a Chocathlon.

Designed to put the fun back into running (was it ever in running?), the event seems to be a baby version of the well established Marathon du Medoc – a 26.2 mile run which takes in numerous Bordeaux chateaux and a couple of dozen sampling stations which show off the wine and food of the region.

The Guardian ran a very funny report on the Marathon du Medoc a couple of years back.

Smurfs and vino

This line made me a giggle:

‘Glancing at the pack of Smurfs already finishing off a bottle of vino (it’s 9.30am), and the oversized baby having a fag in the starting zone, I’m not entirely convinced regulations are quite as stringent as they would be back in the UK.’

The Glasgow Wineathlon, which takes place on Saturday 24 September, looks less of a gastric challenge while still retaining a large element of fun. Fancy dress and fund raising are the order of the day rather than competition and personal bests.

You can sign up here.

Cheers!