On Sunday at 5.55am you will no doubt be tucked up in bed enjoying a restful sleep. I will however, be stood on the shore of Wimbleball Lake in Exmoor National Park with 1,500 other people, contemplating a running start into the lake ahead of swimming in what will surely be icy waters.

I am taking part in the UK Ironman 70.3 Triathlon. What that means in simple terms is that I have to swim 1.2 miles, cycle 56 miles and finish off with a nice and easy half-marathon (13.1 miles). Total distance covered 70.3 miles hence the name.

In order for some good to come from this event, to at least make up for the severe pain i will be in if/when i cross the finish line and give me a justification for doing this then i have decided to raise money for Concern Worldwide and in particular their food relief programme in Ethiopia where a drought has affected the harvest and left many people facing malnutrition. This has started to be covered in the news but to give you some idea of the scale of the problem:

-UNICEF says a recent drought in Ethiopia has caused a food crisis and estimates 126,000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition

-The Ethiopian government and aid agencies are struggling to find the money to help with international food prices rising sharply

-UNICEF says 6 million Ethiopian children under the age of 5 may be at risk of malnutrition

-The UN World Food Programme estimates that 3.4 million of Ethiopia's population of 80 million will require food relief from July to September.

All donations will be very gratefully received, please dig deep and give generously!

Rob