Hello from over the river

A couple of weeks ago I got asked to write something by way of a blog post for Bideford People and/or Barnstaple People . As North Devon Triathletes are hoping to put on a Triathlon in Bideford this year alongside Bideford Bridge Rotary Club (and Barnstaple People won't let me on at the moment) I thought that the best way to start this would be to introduce myself even though I'm officially from the wrong side of the river. For those of you who know me you'd be better skipping the next bit ;-).

So here goes. I'm Iain, I'm a lorry driver and I live near Barnstaple in North Devon which is in the South West of the UK. Coping with my sometimes lacklustre sometimes manic lifestyle is the long long long suffering girlfriend Shelly and our 3 year old lunatic but loveable Springer Spaniel Rosie. I've been pootling along in Triathlon for 15 years or so and was running on and off for a few years before that. I can swim pretty well, I can run pretty well but my biking is a bit of a let down by comparison. Biking is my weakest discipline hence it's the discipline I like the least need to train at the most but actually (of course) train at the least.

Ironman is the daddy of Triathlon and takes a full day to complete. Comprising of a 2.4mile swim, 112mile bike ride and a 26.2mile run. To make the distances a bit easier to understand imagine popping down to Barnstaple Leisure Centre and swimming 154 lengths. After the swim you might hop on your bike and ride to Clovelly and back, just three times should cover it. Once back at the Leisure Centre for the 3rd time you could leave your bike, slip on your trainers, jump on the Tarka Trail and run to Instow and back, twice. The Elite athletes (who do this sport for a living) will complete this little lot in in 8-9hrs and those towards the back of the field will take twice that amount of time.

In 2009 I raced Ironman Florida and after many messed up attempts I finally managed to put in a decent performance, finishing the event in 9h39m. This was not only a personal best time by over an hour but finishing 8th out of the 400 in my Age Group qualified me for the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Doing these races doesn't come cheap, the day after qualifying I had to hand over a full £360 just to enter the Hawaii race. My family as always have been a huge help though and with the amazing support of my Tri Club North Devon Tri helping out too (read about it here) I'm determined that come October 9th this year I will let no one down.

After a couple of minor niggles over the holiday period the big build for Kona starts now and I'm happy to have you along. The more the merrier. Please leave me comments/ideas/thoughts too so that I know you're there.

If you're a local (or not so local) business and you can think of a way we can mutually benefit each other then let me know. I'd love to be able to afford this adventure without becoming a drain on my family and friends, so if you can help and I can put a few hours in/get you some good publicity etc on the back of my training and my race then please get in touch :-)

Thanks for reading, here's to a hugely successful 2010.

Thanks Nonnie_Mouse :-)

I'm not at my best tapping away at a keyboard, but hopefully I'll have fun keeping people informed as my training advances. Also hoping to do a little bit on any local races that I get to, starting with the Braunton 10 mile race this weekend.