In the last few months I have dusted off the trainers, borrowed a bike (not having ridden one in 10 years!) and hijacked my daughters one:one swimming lessons so I could progress from my usual doggy-paddle/breast stroke to enable me to finish the first leg of this Triathlon without having to be rescued! I am definitely not going to be a front runner on June 5th, at the Blenheim Palace Triathlon, one of the biggest sprint triathlons in the UK, but I am determined to see it through to the end.
So, what do I have to do? 750 m swim across Blenheim Palace Lake, 20 km bike ride and finish off with a 5.5 k run.
Why am I doing this?  Our friends Hannah and David Cole founded ‘Thinking of Oscar’ after the sudden and unexpected death of their 16 month old son in June 2014 . Oscar had been in hospital being treated routinely for an unusual but non life threatening infection however in the space of 24 hours his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died. They later learned that he had contracted encephalitis, a viral inflammation of the brain.

The charity has raised over £75,000 so far and with over 85 people competing in the Thinking of Oscar team they are hoping to add an additional £80,000 to this amount.

What has the money done so far? The objective of the their charity is to improve the experiences of young children and their families whilst in hospital care. So far they have funded a set of vein finders into the John Radcliffe Children's Hospital, Oxford. Via the triathlon they will look to complete the funding of a new children's procedures unit which will mean that children who would otherwise have had to be admitted to the main hospital for procedures, which are routine from a medical point of view but may not feel that way as a parent or child, will now be able to be treated within the children's hospital. The benefit of this will be that it is less stressful for the child and much more likely that the procedure takes place at the appointed time rather than being bounced by emergencies. We are also looking to fund similar projects across the UK and other new and advanced technologies which are proven to have a tangible positive impact on paediatric healthcare provision in the UK.

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