A reminder of the justgiving site!

In response to a request below is the link to the justgiving site for sponsoring me (at the bottom of this post), also I have attached the latest email I sent out to sponsors and supporters.

I just wanted to give you an update on progress so far. Well one half ironman down and two left to go to reach my goal of three in 2011!

I finished The Marshman at the beginning of May in a new personal best time of 6:35:24 taking a massive 25 minutes of my previous best. What made it more memorable for me was the fact that I had a challenging swim (one of my fellow “competitors” pulled off my goggles) and then I snapped my bike chain 500m onto the course, meaning I had to spend about 25 minutes repairing it – so in reality I would have taken nearly an hour of my previous best if those had not happened!

Since that race I have spent the time recovering and training for my next race, possibly the most challenging of the year – the UK 70.3 based at Wimbleball Lake in Exmoor. This race has been described as one of the toughest half ironman races there is and having done it in the past I can vouch for that. Not only do you have to swim 1.2 miles, cycle 56 miles and then run a 13.1 mile half marathon, you also have to do it over a hilly course that can only be described as evil. The bike route climbs more feet (5905ft) than most full (112 mile) ironman courses and the run includes 1323ft of climbing on tired legs...hard work! In 2009 I was the last person across the line in 8:54 this year I am aiming for sub 7 hours (and not last), fingers crossed!

After the UK 70.3 I have the new IRE 70.3 in my sights, this race is based in Galway (the swim is in the Bay....), but that is not until September, so between now and then I have decided to do a couple of open water swims. I have the Great East Swim in Alton Water on the 11 June (a week before UK 70.3), this is a 1 mile race, I am in the sub 30min wave – so that should be fun, and finally (for now) I am entered into the Henley Swim Challenge on July 10th, a 1 mile upstream (River Thames) swimming race, held on the Henley Royal Regatta course! Wish me luck!

Now for the other main reason for this email.

Whilst I do these silly endurance events to keep myself healthy and fit I also try to raise money to, in some way, offset the time and effort I put in. So far, if I am honest, the response to my first email was not stellar, but, I really, REALLY appreciate the donations from those who have already sponsored me. For those who have not yet been able to I like to ask you if you could spare even £1 to support my chosen charity for 2011, the Urostomy Association. They are a fabulous small charity who assist those who are about to undergo or who have undergone surgery which results in a urinary diversion, such as a urostomy, continent urinary pouch or neo bladder. In addition they assist carers in the rehabilitation of people with a urinary diversion and improve the quality of life of people who have undergone urinary diversion surgery and those who care for them.

So why them? Well, about seven years ago my mother had a urostomy, subsequently followed by a colostomy. It is a major surgical procedure which very nearly killed her, due to the post op infection. If you do not know anyone who has had either of these procedures you will not realise how life changing they are. There is a whole realm of challenges and difficulties they present. The members and staff of the UA were of great help to my mother and my father in that learning period and in the years that followed. I simply want to show my thanks to them by “doing my bit”. Any amount large or small will help this small charity immensely so (if you can) please be generous! To donate please go to:

http://www.justgiving.com/Iaindoesthreehalfironmanracesin2011

Finally, please feel free to go to my blog (http://iaindoestriathlon.blogspot.com) which I update infrequently to see how I get on over the season, also you can follow me on twitter @isainsbury.

Thanks for reading and best wishes,

Iain.