In my last Blog - the Wolves and the Storyteller I talked about working with professional rugby league players at Warrington Wolves earlier this year and how we used story telling to get some important messages across. I ended the article on a 'best wishes' note as the team were preparing for the 2009 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley and committed that I'd share the story we used in our session with them if the Wolves won.

I'm ecstatic to say that Warrington Wolves did become 2009 Carnegie Challenge Cup winners yesterday, lifting the prestigious trophy for the first time in 35 years.

So, before the face paint wears off, I'd better get writing....

In 1983, 12 men lined up at the starting point for the Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultra-Marathon, a 544 mile running race between the two Australian cities. The race involved competitors running for 18 hours and sleeping for 6 hours, making the record of just under 6 days a grueling challenge.

Cliff Young, a 61 year old farmer who worked on a 2,000 acre sheep farm, turned up in his usual work-wear of overalls and gum boots, along side 11 highly trained athletes kitted out in their Nike running shoes. The press explained the scale of the challenge to Cliff, telling him, "You're crazy, there's no way you can finish this race."

Cliff's replied, "Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn't afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I'd have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I'd always catch them. I believe I can run this race."

As the competitors set off, it was clear that Cliff's clothes, age and pedigree were not the only thing to set him apart. His style of running, or shuffling, was unusual too. Cliff shuffled in a hunched way, leaning forwards and swinging his straightened arms - with his legs following behind him in an ungainly style. From the opening minutes of the race, he lagged behind the other young athletes and was given no hope of ever catching them.

On the first night, the runners turned off the road for their 6 hour sleep in trailers towed behind by road crews. Cliff simply grabbed 2 hours power nap at the roadside before jumping up and hitting the road again. When the media awoke to cover the second day of the race, Cliff had become an overnight phenomenon. He had closed the gap on the leaders by running while they were sleeping.

When he was asked of his strategy, to everyone's disbelief, Cliff claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping.

He continued to shuffle his way across Australia, grabbing a few minutes of rest here and there instead of following the conventional, accepted strategy of 18 hours running and 6 hours sleeping.

Each night Cliff closed the gap on the race leaders before overtaking them on the final night whilst they were sleeping. He stormed on to win the Westfield Ultra Marathon and set a new course record of 5 days 15 hours. Breaking the previous record by almost 8 hours.

When he received the $10,000 prize money, Cliff said that he didn't realise that he was running for a prize - he was doing it for the love of running. Subsequently, he gave his winnings to a number of other competitors in the race.

Through a true Tortoise and Hare story, Cliff Young showed the athletics world that being different and unconventional isn't wrong - if you stick with your self belief and keep plugging away patiently at a target despite what others believe, you'll eventually overtake the competition and prove your critics wrong.

At 61 years old, Cliff Young became a Legend and changed running for ever. Despite laughing at his technique during the early days of the 1983 race, all future Ultra Marathon runners adopted the Young Shuffle because it is more energy efficient than conventional running. They also changed their running and sleeping patterns as a result.

My previous Blog talks about how we told this story to the Warrington Wolves players in a way that made it really meaningful to them. We brought out the notions of patience, not worrying about criticism, confidence in your own belief and being brave enough to try different strategies, along side the other inspirational messages in the story. We also created a video clip to introduce the amazing Cliff Young story.

Congratulations to Warrington Wolves - 2009 Challenge Cup Winners - legends of a great sporting trophy