Why I'm Doing Ironman Wales (and Why I'm Asking for Your Support)

This September, I’ll be taking on Ironman Wales — a race known as one of the toughest triathlons on the planet.

A 2.4-mile swim

A 112-mile bike ride

Followed by a 26.2-mile run

For the Plymouth crowd, that’s like swimming from the Breakwater to the Hoe, cycling to Bristol, and then running a marathon...

I’m doing it to raise money for Woodlands School, a brilliant local school that supports 88 children with complex physical and sensory difficulties. Many of their pupils also have significant medical needs. Woodlands serves families across the entire South West peninsula, not just with education, but with incredible support for both children and their families.

They’re currently fundraising to build a coffee shop called "Full of Beans". It’ll be a place where pupils can build confidence, learn skills, gain work experience, and socialise. It'll also be a place for parents with full plates to get a cup of coffee.

A Brief History of My Triathlon Career...

I have done a triathlon before. Once. It was a sprint triathlon in Bude — the shortest kind you can do. Unfortunately, it was also the day after my engagement party.

Having rolled in from the nightclub at 4am, I was chauffeured by Emma to the start line at 7am, clutching my stomach, too nauseous to eat or drink. I hadn't fixed my bike in time, so I borrowed someone else's. I was one of only two people doing the swim in shorts with no wetsuit. The other was Emma’s cousin — who exited the water in first place. I... did not. I could only hope that people assumed we were the two lifeguards, leading the athletes out and bringing up the rear for safety reasons.

By the time I fell off the borrowed bike, getting a black eye and snapping the pedal off into my shoe, I was questioning my life choices (not the engagement though...). As I staggered through the final 5km run in the blazing sun, I was seriously weighing up whether drinking from Bude canal was worth the risk to quench my horrendous hangover thirst.

Fast Forward to Now, there have been no other triathlons — but here I am three months out from Ironman Wales. My first full road marathon will come at the end of this race. I suspect this will be my last triathlon. Between work, two little girls, and the sheer volume of training, these past months have been a blur. I’ve battled injuries through overtraining, basically had to learn to swim properly, missed out on football and social runs, and spent far too long in the lonely company of gels, lycra, and conversations about “Zone 2.” Before this, I could safely say I had never cried on a bike. As of June 24th, 2025, the count currently stands at two.

But I’ve told too many people now to back out.

So I’d love it if all this effort could come with a silver lining — raising money for a great local cause that has become very important to me.

If you'd like to follow the journey (and witness hours of very average-paced suffering), my Strava link is: https://www.strava.com/athletes/21694561

Thank you so much for reading and for any support you can give,

Alexz.