Hi

I’m raising money for Readley, who work with people affected by Mesothelioma in the North East of England

I was lucky to meet with the founders of this wonderful charity during my dad’s journey through this asbestos-related cancer in 2021

Dad made it to the November of that year

IRONMAN COPENHAGEN COMPLETE

11hr 33min 59sec

I pulled my best ever swim & best ever cycle out of the bag, then followed them up with a decent marathon

Visit https://justgiving.com/fundraising/pjhopperironman2023 to sponsor me & donate to Readley Asbestos & Mesothelioma Support

SWIM 1:16.29

My swim went pretty-much perfectly; calm saltwater makes for a fast time. I stayed wide on the way out - avoiding any wrestling matches - but after the turn, I came a little closer in, to save some energy by drafting. From halfway, I was surrounded by more green swim-hats than purple ones, which meant that I'd swum up into the group that started ahead of me

T1 0:05.35

Uneventful. Maybe lost a few seconds because of a lack of space and faffing to get the bike route up on my bike computer

BIKE 6:01.28

Maybe my best ever day in the saddle. I felt great coming out of the water. It didn't feel like I was pushing hard, but, for the first 90k, I rattled along above 30 kph (on a nice flat course). Hitting half way, the pace didn't come quite as easily on the slightly harder half of the loop. But, I managed to keep my head down and, turning for home, I picked the pace back up. At some point I got my first ever verbal warning for drafting - it's not something I was doing intentionally, so I was glad to be let off without a penalty

T2 0:03.17

Pretty calm & relatively quick. Most importantly, no mistakes

RUN 4:07.12

I felt good & set off a bit too fast at around 5:00min/km but reined it in to settle at a more sensible 5:30min/km. On lap 2 (of 4) the distance got in my head a bit and the energy gels weren't "sitting right". Plus I got my on-the-fly maths wrong and thought that I'd slipped behind target. I kept moving but was struggling & started to slow down - over 6:30min/km for a couple of kilometers - until I switched to using energy gel-type bars & Jerry told me that I was way ahead of where I thought I was. So with a more settled stomach & feeling happier, I brought the pace back to around 6:00min/km for the second half of the run. My calves were threatening to cramp for most of laps 3 & 4 which stopped me speeding up to try to bag 11hr 30min, but I was pretty shocked to have even come close

Altogether pretty chuffed

If you want to...

... reward my reckless disregard of my own body

...commiserate me on my clear lack of sound reason

...or you just want to give to a great cause that's close to my heart

I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you

PJ