This year I will be attempting my third Ironman Triathlon having completed Ironman UK in 2007, but failing to finish in 2008 through illness.

For those of you who are unaware of what an Ironman Triathlon consists of, let me explain what I and around 1500 other competitors will be doing this August.

3.8 km open water swim in a cold reservoir starting at 6am, then

180 km bike race around the lanes of Lancashire before finally

42 km road run, and yes that is a full marathon.

so that's the equivalent of swimming 152 lengths of your local swimming pool, then hopping on to your bike to cycle down the M6 and M5 motorways (not recommended by the way) to Cheltenham before starting out on the marathon....basically a long day out..... the winner will cross the line in around 8hrs 30mins and the last weary finisher will come home in around 17hrs.....for my part, I am hoping to get around 12hrs, but any finish will be good for me.

Our club is supporting Special Kids in the UK and I am fully behind that with my pledge to try and raise £1000 towards the great work that they carry out..... I hope you can support me in any way that you can and lets see if I can get to my target.