Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  On 8th August I raced London Olympic Distance Triathlon in memory of my father, Harold Gilfillan Hirst, who died of bowel cancer on 12^th January this year, aged 84.  I have raced over 40 triathlons during the last 12 years and not previously asked for sponsorship.  This time I asked friends and colleagues to support me in racing for Bowel Cancer UK, to raise money to combat the disease.

So, if you've come to this page with the intention of giving, please go ahead – the site will stay open for a while: I'm sure Bowel Cancer will be able to put the extra contributions to very good use.  Thank you.

Race Report: Well the big day finally arrived and Sue and I went down to to rack my bike on the Saturday afternoon and prepare for the race on Sunday afternoon.  The senior men’s age group wave starting at 1440 was the largest at 400 competitors – so quite a boisterous swim start!  I managed to stay up with the front pack and got a personal best for 1500m at 00:27:39.  A long transition saw me out on the bike after 05:22, and then a flat, fast bike course gave me another PB at 01:08:50 for the 40km – into a 02:30 transition.  The 10km run at 00:58:08 took me beyond an overall PB for Olympic Distance by almost three minutes.  A total time of 02:42:27 gave me 22^nd out of 70 in the Male 50 – 54 Age Group.

After the all the worry and waking at 2.30am, I was very happy with the result – none of the mishaps of last season.  Once again, thank you all for your kind donations which have boosted the fund to over three times my original target, at over £1,400.