Without sport I could never have morphed into a distant cousin of Forrest Gump.

Life began in abject poverty in Liverpool.  My dad was fortunate enough to get a job on the shop floor at Vauxhall Motors and we escaped to live in Ellesmere Port where I was badly beaten for daring to attend the local Grammar School.

Rugby proved to be my defensive mechanism.  The beatings soon stopped and after spells in Hull and Guildford I was lucky enough to play for the world’s third best rugby team.  After the British Lions and England there is of course Rosslyn Park IV’s.  That was in the days when club member “Chariots” Offiah was told I believe that no black player would ever represent England at Rugby Union.

As you cannot play in the front row forever I spent some years happily going to seed until a chance encounter brought me to athletics with Stockport Harriers and Altrincham Harriers where I competed (modestly) both in Europe and in the US running a sub 3 hour marathon in London 1995.

Then I ran out of running and my dearest friend suggested I try cycling and I have been hooked for 3 years.  The highlight before the Slam being a Paris to Nice ride to support Manchester Children’s Hospital in 2008.

That dearest friend lost his fight against cancer last year and my eulogy included reference to him still being at my side when the going gets tough.  He is/was an ace cyclist and with him on my pedals getting from Rome to Edinburgh will be a stroll in the park.

My sporting lives have introduced me to so many fantastic people and all I have learned in sport I apply each day into my niche business as a medical defence lawyer which is my equivalent of Forrest’s shrimps.

For a variety of professional and personal reasons all funds raised to go to DebRA.