Mid-Channel....

Mid-Channel....

Friday 31 July 2009

Support.....

I'm still on the (sponsorship) campaign trail and, as noted, it is so disheartening when people don't even respond. On return from holiday I started to work through my Sky Plus-ing and watched the coverage of the ultra-distance Jungle Marathon. One team battling the spiders, jaguars, snakes and piranha was Schroders, headed up by Julian Winser. They did such a fantastic job and with a military connection I hoped they might be able to contribute to the pot. I hunted down Julian's email and sent him my proposal which he replied to within a few hours. Unfortunately they are restricted to on-island sponsorship (they are based in Guernsey) but Julian was so supportive of the challenge itself and will propose a charity donation instead. It was absoloutely wonderful just to have someone reply and validate that the challenge is a good one and what I am attempting to do is worthwhile. So, if Julian does visit this page, a big "Thank you", you made my day!

Thursday 30 July 2009

Sponsorship

So in the last week since I wrote I have been emailing everyone I can possibly think of who might be able to provide some sponsorship to support this challenge. Enduroman advises that you will probably need a pot of around £5000 to complete the challenge including their fee and that of the boat pilot who guides you safely across the Channel. So far not much luck. It is more depressing actually to receive no response that to receive a negative one. At least that way I know the email has been read and people have made a decision regarding the challenge. Thinking all my work in trying to gather sposnsorship has just been automatically binned is SO depressing.

I've been at home in France this week for a holiday with friends and family. It was fantastic, such a relaxed and chilled out time, just what was needed. I used the time to spend planning my 52week Ironman Switzerland attempt which I race on the 1st August next year. It will at least get me to a fighting fitness before I start the huge endurance build which the challenge will require. The work really starts in September at the beginning of the Base period. The next month is just going to be used to establish workout frequency and preparing for the Channel relay. Only 3weeks to go now and we are off to Dover this weekend for our first (!) and last team meeting....

Wednesday 22 July 2009

In the beginning......

A few weeks ago I went to watch my friend Sam compete in the bournemouth triathlon. Having not done any triathlon for nearly 3 years due to other commitments I was a little shocked to realise how much I had missed it. Not that I miss Olympic distance you understand. I need to 'Go Long'...... The week later I planted the seed in Sam's head of completing her first Ironman and after securing some funding from the Royal Air Force Sports Lottery, we signed up.

Around this time Jo Kilkenny was attempting the first female attempt of the Arch 2 Arc. Unfortunately for Jo she didn't finish the swim though it sounded like she gave it everything in her attempt and did set a record for the run leg. So.....this left me with the thought of being 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and I decided to investigate. I spoke with Steve Haywood at Enduroman and he informed me there were still slots for both 2010 and 2011. Due to IM commitments in 2010 I proposed a 2011 attempt. However, the costs involved were a sticking point with estimates around the £5000 mark. I got on the sponsorship campaign and within a few days had my first sponsor.

I had contacted David Thomlinson at Accenture as I used to work at the company and knew their commitment to supporting sporting endeavours. I wasn't disappointed. David responded and offered to sponsor me £500 from their Foundation. How fantastic! A massive massive thank you to them for getting me on the way. Just another £4500 to go!