In one weeks’ time, at 4:45am, I will be jumping off a ferry in to a glacial lake in the middle of Norway.

Why you might ask? This will be the start of the hardest race I've attempted – the Norseman. The 3.8km swim in ~11-degree water will be followed by a 180km (110 mile) bike ride, climbing an aggregate 3,400m of elevation. The final section is a 42km marathon, which includes 2,000m of vertical ascent to reach the finish line (full view of elevation gain / course below):

I got a place in this race by sheer luck—it's considered one of the greatest triathlons, and is accessible through an incredibly popular ballot, with only ~250 places. My acceptance into the race this year sort of felt like destiny.

While managing my other responsibilities as a father and colleague, I have had to reinvent the concept of time management. My wake-up time shifted 1.5hrs earlier to 5am to enable 1–2hrs of training most days, and my weekends (and family) have been taken over with 3-8hrs of training to get the "volume" up to between 10-18hrs of exercise per week.

I'd be lying if I said I don't want to do this, but I'd also say this is the hardest thing I've ever attempted physically. I am aware you all receive a significant amount of emails regarding sponsorship but would politely ask you to consider this as the charity I am raising for, U-GO, is an incredibly worthy cause.

Background of U-Go: Because it is relatively young, you may not have heard of U-GO, but you may have heard of its founder, John Wood. John is a good friend and the Founder of Room to Read. As the young women in the Room to Read program grew up, they began asking him to help them to achieve their dream of a university education. John originally funded several dozen long-term university scholarships out of his own pocket, and then in 2022 left Room to Read to start U-GO, with the bold goal of helping 100,000 ambitious and promising young women in low-income countries to achieve their dreams of a university degree and economic independence.

Five Additional Facts to Consider:

• Zero Leakage Model: The economic model is incredibly efficient: (a) John and the C-suite work for zero salary; (b) the global Board of Directors covers every dollar of overhead (fundraising + admin) expenses; and (c) it only costs US$800 to fund one U-GO scholar for one year.

• Partnerships: John’s team has built a network of 14 NGO partners (including Room to Read) working across 9 low-income countries.

• 2026 Goal: This is a big year for U-GO, as they are aiming to grow the number of scholarship recipients to 10,000 by EOY. There has never been a non-profit organization that has awarded this many scholarships in such a short time.

• Scholarships to Date: They have already awarded 6,715 long-term university scholarships in just over 4 years since their launch in 2022.

• Proven Concept: U-GO scholars are exceptionally motivated, as shown by three consecutive years of a 98%+ advancement rate.

I appreciate you taking the time to read, and if any thoughts / questions, or anything else, please let me know!

Thank you,

Sam