Ironman Challenge - Raising money for suicide awareness and prevention

When we lost my 18-year-old daughter Elli to suicide on the 24th of January 2022 I decided I was going to need a big challenge to help me through the tough times ahead. The Nottingham Outlaw Full Ironman seemed like the perfect challenge as Elli had planned to one day complete an Ironman herself. My brothers (Jamie, Rob and Will), sister in-law (Jo) and friends (Una, Cath and Ellen) also decided to join me in this crazy challenge. On deciding to do the Ironman, none of us (apart from Una) even knew what it consisted of, and I could hardly run 5k. Coming up to 16 months later, after hours of training, hard work and ‘no excuses’ we are fast approaching the mammoth task of swimming 2.4miles open water, 112mile bike ride and full marathon in a time under 17 hours.

This has been the hardest of times for everyone who knew Elli, and I would like to personally thank all the above for taking on the challenge with me, and for everyone who has helped me get from being able to run 5k to hopefully being able to complete the Outlaw Ironman.

On the 30th of July 2023, Jamie, Will and I will be taking part in the Nottingham Outlaw full Ironman, Rob, Jo and Una will be taking part as a relay team, Cath will be doing the Outlaw Swim Challenge on the 29th of July and Ellen is competing in the Nice ironman 70.3 on the 25th of June – all to raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention.

If you would like to sponsor us, we will be raising money for ‘The Tomorrow Project’ which is a charity offering Prevention, Intervention and Postvention for anyone who is suffering from self-harm, suicidal thoughts or are bereaved by suicide. Sadly, charities like ‘The Tomorrow Project’ are in desperate need of funds to try and keep up with the ever-increasing demand for their services and provide the necessary support where it is most needed.

Many thanks,

Charlie Haynes