Many, many thanks for those of you sponsored me for the UK Ironman in Bolton. I managed to complete the full course in 12 hours, 42 mins, 56 secs, placing me 498 out of 1260 finishers or 48th in my age category. The race started at 6am with a swim in a cold reservoir and ended for me at 7pm in front of Bolton Town Hall!
My splits
Swim - 2.4 miles: 1hr 18mins.....a mass start with 1,500 swimmers competing for space across a 30m start line
Transition 1 - 8 mins... or how to pull off a wetsuit in a muddy field
Bike - 112 miles: 6hrs 59 mins.... thank God for bagels and cheddar cheese
Transition 2 - 9mins.... racking my bike and wondering whether I had enough 'fuel in the tank'
Run - 26.2 miles: 4hrs 9mins... actually quite enjoyable! I took it steady and was overtaking quite a few people
Total: 12 hrs 42 mins 56 seconds
I am swimming/cycling/running to raise money for Future Skills Training, a Wandsworth-based charity that provides life skills training to disaffected and at risk young people in . Having spent most of my career in professional training and development for university educated workforces, I have been impressed by this team of trainers who focus their craft on 11-19 year olds with little or no aspirations / educational achievements but behavioural problems in spades
Young people are referred to FST by Local Authority Pupil Referral Units after having been excluded from mainstream education; many will have offended or are at risk of offending. A profile of a referred client typically entails poor personal hygiene, low fitness levels, very poor diet, inability to shop and cook, poor numeracy, literacy and money management skills. FST delivers a small number of effective programmes to encourage and reskill these young people to alter the direction of their lives for the good.
But achieving results is tough: In 2008 only 34% of pupils referred by Wandsworth’s Pupil Referral Unit were successfully re-integrated into mainstream education after attending one of FST’s Learn2Live programme. Because of the behavioural problems encountered, each session needs to be supported by 4-5 members of the FST team.
So here are some of the ways money could help.
· £12 pays for 1 person to attend a 2 hour fitness or football training session run by a qualified FA coach
· £35 pays for a one hour one-to-one tutoring or mentoring session
· £340 pays for a half day personal and social development session for up to 10 young people incorporating sport, drama, lateral thinking exercises and team games
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now. Thank you ;-)
