It was wonderful to hear from Evan Reynolds who took on the challenge of a gruelling London to Isle of Wight Triathlon on the 14th April to raise funds for the DBF and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
This challenge was not for the faint hearted as the 3 components comprised a total of 104 miles:
- Cycle – London to Hayling Island – 81 Miles
- Row – in a Cornish Gig to the Isle of Wight – 11.5 Nm (13.2 Miles)
- Run – Coastal Path from Benbridge to Ventnor – 10 Miles
This is considerably more than a Half Ironman, which is 70 miles. Evan took part with 27 others, all raising money for various charities.
It was a great achievement to complete this tough Triathlon and we are deeply grateful to Evan for his huge efforts on behalf of the charity.
He has kindly sent a write up of the event, which you can read below and which gives a fascinating taster into taking part in one of these events. (And that’s without all the training required to get to this point.)
Respect, Evan, congratulations and a big thank you for all at the DBF!
Triathlon Update
I completed it and even managed to enjoy parts of it!
I met with about 40 fellow cyclists out the back of the Royal Marsden at 6am and we promptly set off to Portsmouth in what turned out to be perfect conditions.
One puncture in Richmond Park and another in Havant didn’t manage to stop us getting into the boats and out on to the water. Disappointingly once half way across the Solent we were instructed to turn back due to the sea fog that had enveloped our landfall at Bembridge. This was very frustrating but we did still do about ¾ of the distance expected in the boats and I have the blisters to prove it!
We returned to Eastney and got the hovercraft over to Ryde and in the cars to Bembridge. Setting off on the run was intimidating, particularly as we ran up the hill out of the harbour and then across a marsh, the run eased out along the 4/5 mile length of Sandown bay until reaching steps up off the beach to Luccombe Hill, where I confess I walked. This was necessary to conserve enough energy to cross the finish line at a pace with onlookers none the wiser!
And here I am on Ventnor beach looking absolutely broken!
Thank you all so much for your donations, in total we raised £2,153.00 which is 107% of my target. That doesn’t include the £200.00 the Kier Foundation will match, so a grand total of £2,353 not incl. gift aid.
Thank you!
Evan