Hi everyone and thank you for visiting my Just giving page. 

May I first take this opportunity to thank any of you that have previously supported my efforts and various ridiculous challenges I have attempted in the past 10- 15 years be it sponsoring my 1st or my 100th Marathon.

This has proved to be my biggest challenge yet  due to the training involved. My poor wife has had to watch me disappear for hours on end and of course doing this whilst holding on to a full time career means that when most of you are sleeping, I am hitting the pool at 05-30 for swimming. Or when you are going to bed, I am going for a run. This challenge has been made all the more difficult because 18 months ago I could not swim. This in itself has led to tears and tantrums as I attempt to conquer my fears of being out of my depth and surviving. Oh and one last thing , I'm bleeding 50 years old.!!

On the 14th July I will attempt to finish an event whereby at the end of it I can call myself an "Iron man". In order to achieve this I will have to carry out the following-

Swim 2.4 miles in open water

Cycle a grueling and very hilly 112 miles 

Finish by running a marathon (that's only 26.2 miles) 

Only if I can achieve all the above within 17 hours total and various other times for each event can I retire in to bed at the end of the day calling myself an Iron Man. Anything else is failure. 

So I have chosen the Samaritans as my charity to represent on this event. Maybe because of my mental health background or maybe because aged 19 I had call to use them to support me through an horrific time. Without them I would never have experienced the wonderful things I went on to see and achieve to this stage of my life. A loving gorgeous wife, two great children. Also I would never of had the opportunity to be a Nurse and help shape and influence so many others in their own times of need. I would never of had the privileged to care for many of the older generation in my career and help make people who experience dementia lives just a little tiny bit better. 

Suicide in the UK is at an alarming rate especially in young men. As our youngsters live with the pressures of a "goldfish society" aka Facebook Instagram etc the need for organisations like the Samaritans is growing. This is why I am supporting the Samaritans. Sometimes just having someone there to talk to is the difference between being one of these stats and being pretty much like myself. Suicide is permanent solution to a temporary problem.

• In 2017 there were 6,213 suicides in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
• Of these, 5,821 suicides were registered in the UK and 392 occurred in the Republic of Ireland.
• In the UK, men are three times as likely to take their own lives than women.
• In the Republic of Ireland, men are four times more likely to take their own lives than women.
• In the UK, the highest suicide rate was for men aged 45-49.
• In the Republic of Ireland, the highest suicide rate was for men aged 25–34 (with an almost identical rate for men aged 45–54).
• In Northern Ireland, suicide rates for both men and women are higher than other UK nations – however rates are not necessarily directly comparable.