Hercules has now finished it's run on BBC Three, annoyingly before we could work out whether we actually liked it or not. Unfortunately, European indoor rowing champion Lee Rankin, despite being clearly the fittest overall athlete there, was eliminated on the ninth day when his motion sickness prevented him from having a proper crack at a challenge where you had to turn a turnstile for hours on end.One of the other competitors taking part was Richard Blagrove, a 22 year old student, who is the current Under-23 British Grand Prix champion.Richard has been a competitive runner since the age of 14 and only took up indoor rowing a year ago to help him get over an Achilles injury that left him unable to run. He competed in a number of indoor rowing competitions throughout last year, culminating in his Grand Prix success, something that he rates as one of his best sporting moments.Being born into a sporty family has encouraged Richard to be a dedicated sportsman. His grandfather was an international athlete and his father a keen runner. Richard, originally from Lincoln, is studying for a sports science degree at Loughborough University and shares a house with other athletes, which helps him keep up with his training. Each morning starts with a six mile run before his lectures and then finishes with another six mile run in the evening. Two weights sessions in the gym each week also helps to keep up his fitness.Richard feels his biggest strength as an athlete lies in his organisation, something he relied on when competing in the Hercules programme. Commenting on his preparation beforehand, Richard said: I'm looking forward to getting stuck into a serious challenge. I believe I can do well by being rational and well organised during the competition. I think preparation will be the key to my success.Physically I have good upper body strength from my indoor rowing and good cardiovascular ability from my running. My Achilles injury is a danger although it hasn't troubled me for a year so I hope I'm over it.Richard was hoping that the Challenge of Hercules would be his strongest event. It involved using specially adapted Indoor Rowers to row a distance of 70 kilometres, the equivalent of travelling across the channel to France and back. To keep up the Grecian theme the Indoor Rowers were placed inside Greek galleons and adapted to include oars. Unfortunately Richard was eliminated before this round, leaving it open to Lee Rankin to win the event.More information on the programme can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/hercules/. There's also a website devoted to the programme at http://www.herculeschallenge.com/