The PentUp Foundation has been set up to organise and run a Modern Pentathlon event at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst on 14 October 2017, with a view to it becoming an annual competitive event.

The foundation is raising money on behalf of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) charities, for the therapy and treatment of serving and retired British Military personnel who are affected by PTSD.

Over 75,000 veterans from armed conflicts of the last 25 years are afflicted by trauma and in 2015/16 Combat Stress' 24 hour phone line was contacted 9,500 times with 2,500 referrals for therapy. The scale of suffering is unprecedented and growing with over 200 traumatised ex-service personnel a month coming forward to ask for help.

Evidence based research has shown that the process of training and preparing for a competitive multi discipline sport, can form an essential part of therapeutic treatment and rehabilitation for sufferers of PTSD.

Combat Stress will be the sole recipient of monies raised by the event in 2017. As a leading charity in the sector promoting veteran's mental health and welfare, we can be certain that monies raised will directly support this cause.

Modern Pentathlon is an event conceived by Baron De Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic movement) as the ultimate Olympic sport. It comprises the five disciplines: running, swimming, shooting, fencing and horse-riding (showjumping), and captures the struggles and challenges of a fictitious messenger delivering an important message across hostile territory!

I will be competing as part of a team alongside friends, clinicians and military veterans as we all come together to test ourselves in the five disciplines and score points towards team and individual glory.

So have I done a pentathlon before? No, certainly not, where's the challenge in that. I spent most of my weekends as a kid out riding and have loved getting back in the saddle - although I hated jumping then (too many tumbles from naughty ponies) so I have been nervous about trying it again. In February I tried fencing for the first time and discovered what an amazing work out it is and how satisfying it can be to jab someone with a sword. Around Easter I picked up my first laser pistol: no real bullets to worry about thank goodness. That leaves the running and swimming, easy!