About

So its July 2014, I've just watched my brother Darren finish Ironman UK for the 3rd year in a row at the age of 48. My 10 year old daughter Holly is with me, the look on her face when she sees Darren's medal is one of pure pride and joy. "I could do that" I jokingly say to her "yeh right Dad, you'd not even finish the swim" was her response, given that I couldn't actually swim she had a point. Two weeks later and I'm in, I'd entered IMUK 2015! Holly's response, "you won't be able to do it you're wasting your time". Well Holly, prepare to eat your words :-) For those of you that don't know, an Ironman goes something like this; 1) You get up at 3am in the morning have your breakfast and then travel to Pennington Flash and swim 2.4miles in a wet-suit in a very cold lake! The lake is home to quite a few geese and ducks so they tend to leave some nice floating presents in the water! 2) Then, after this I will climb aboard my bike and cycle the equivalent of Birmingham to London (112 miles) except I'll also be taking in the smaller climbs of the Pennine Hills, including the famous climbs of Hunters Hill and Sheephouse Lane. Oh I forgot to mention, you climb them both twice! 3) Finally, after that I'll stumble, sorry, climb off my bike and run a marathon round my home town of Bolton (not the flattest of Towns). Then I cross the finish line, all just to prove to Holly that 'Anything is Possible' I've entered IMUK 2015 at my own expense and for my own reasons. However I think it would be a missed opportunity if I didn't raise some funds for a great charity that is close to my heart. If you're reading this then you may already know that I lost a number of family members in a short period of time when I was around 7 years old, including my Mum and a Brother. Winston's Wish is a charity that helps youngsters that have suffered bereavement, and for that reason its a charity that I like to support where I can, albeit not normally as publicly as this. Every penny that you donate will go directly to Winstons Wish, I haven't entered under a charity entry, I've paid the entry fee myself so that every penny raised will go directly to them. Also this site doesn't charge the charity any fees like most other sites do nor do paypal for processing donations so every penny really can help make a difference. You'll probably know I'm not really a man of many words and publicly raising money for charity like this isn't something I'd normally do or have done before. Please donate whatever you can, every penny donated really will push me that bit further. Please also share this page when you have donated and spread the word. I genuinely thank you from the bottom of my heart for every penny that is raised.