This Sunday marks my third birthday in a row spent the same way — in the Atlantic at Croyde, doing an Olympic-distance triathlon (1.5km ocean swim, 38km bike, 13km trail run). Turning 52 in a wetsuit is exactly how I like to spend it, so anyone who knows me won't be surprised, and I won't pretend it's some monster physical challenge I need cheering through.

What I do want is for more people to know about The Well Centre Charity and the work we do for young people's health and mental health. Too many 10–25 year olds fall through the gaps between school, GPs , CAMHS and their community, because nothing joins up around them. We train and embed youth workers plus health skills into communities to close that gap — and we're scaling this model across the country.

So think of this less as sponsoring me to survive a swim, bike and run I'll happily do anyway, and more as a chance to back a cause making a real difference to young people's lives. And if you've got your own challenge coming up and are looking for somewhere brilliant to direct the sponsorship, I'd love it to be us.

Thank you — whatever you can give.