An IronMan has always been something that I've seen as an ultimate challenge. Although I've always been active with sports, until starting this I'd never run a marathon, never cycled further than 70 miles, and had the front crawl technique of someone who was drowning...angrily (that's not changed to be fair). For those who aren't aware the IronMan distance is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile ride and a marathon (26.2 mile) run. This will be taking place in the beautiful surroundings of Vichy, France where the temperature at the time of writing this is 32 degrees!

All of the costs have been covered already so every penny raised will go to Orchard Saturday Club.

Orchard Saturday Club is a fantastic organisation that offer support and short breaks for families living with severe and profound learning difficulties. I first heard about this charity as they do a lot of work for my niece Eve. Eve is 10 years old and suffers with significant learning difficulty, adhd, dyspraxia, autism and is non verbal. She is a lovely girl with a great sense of humour but struggles with the day to day life that most people take for granted, she needs constant supervision and has frequent meltdowns which naturally puts a lot of stress on her parents and younger twin sisters. Hence Orchard Saturday Club provides invaluable support to her family and many others in similar positions. To say their resources are stretched is an understatement, they also have a waiting list so any charity donations make a huge difference.

For me the training that I have had to put in to be prepared for an IronMan has involved a lot of 5am starts to fit everything in to family life. However this would be a lie in for Eve's parents, 4am is not an uncommon start time. The respite that Orchard Saturday Club provides allows them to spend time with their other children, have their children's friends around to play and lead a family life that people without children with special needs (myself included) take for granted. This club has proven to be invaluable, not just for my niece but all her family. The people that run Orchard Saturday Club dedicate the majority of their spare time in to helping others, so even just giving a little bit back will make a huge difference to them.

However a little bit isn't what we're aiming for here so please get donating!