I'm doing Ironman Wales on Sunday 10 September in Tenby, Pembrokeshire and I'm trying to raise some cash for the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) to help support its scholarship programme which helps children and young students affected by the war in East Ukraine to study and achieve their full potential.   

All the money you donate will go to UCU's scholarship programme via the Ukrainian Catholic Foundation, an England and Wales registered charity (Registered Charity no: 1136260) that was established in 2010 to promote education and to support UCU in Lviv and its related institutes. 

I've experienced first-hand what a great place UCU is as I taught there between 2010-12, and I also studied Ukrainian on their amazing Summer School of Ukrainian Language and Culture! 

You can find more about UCU here:

https://ucu.edu.ua/en/ 

For those not familiar with Ironman triathlons, the competitors (both elite and ‘have a go amateurs’ like me, also known as ‘age groupers’) are all trying to get round the course (detailed below) as fast as they can. 

I will be cheered on by my international support crew - my Mum (Scotland), my fiancée Lesya (Ukraine) and my Auntie Carol and Uncle Neil (Wales) will be out there with me - thanks guys! .

The Course:

Swim: 2.4 miles (3.8 km – in the sea, can get choppy I hear)

T1: ‘T’ for transition – when you switch between sports. T1 involves running out of the sea, contorting out of your wetsuit, putting on your cycle shoes, helmet and sunnies, and heading off into the Welsh hills.

Cycle: 112 miles (180 km – equivalent to London to Brighton and back, with around 2,400m of climbing - hilly af!)

T2: Cycle gear off, running shoes on.

Run: 26.2 miles (42.2 km – or a marathon)

No two ways about it - it's going to hurt. But I can't really complain because (a) I willingly signed up to do it, and (b) I did one last year so I knew exactly what I was signing up for this time! 

Hope you can sponsor me. And remember, no donation too small (or too large!).

Thanks,

Andy