Story
The refugee crisis is the great challenge of our day and our response to it - practically, politically and morally - will define what kind of world we live in for years to come. The solution to this crisis must include ending conflicts and supporting people and institutions in the conflict regions, i.e. the countries where most refugees actually live. Addressing the root causes of the crises and helping people immediately where they are being displaced could not be more urgent and important today. And this is where IRT comes in - through their projects in places like Jordan, South Sudan and Uganda, they are doing hugely significant work to help some of the poorest people in the world caught up in devastating conflicts.
As for my own story - two years ago was my first marathon, last year was my first cycling sportive of 100 miles, so this year the question was how can I top this all off, as all good things are three. So that final step up is to throw the two together, add another 20km on the cycle and stir in a 3.8km swim as a warm-up - all in one VERY long day. Et voila, here I am training for the Iron-Distance Koeln Triathlon (or Cologne 226 - adding the distance together in km) on 4 September 2016.
This really is a big challenge, and as we are getting closer to the day, I am still not quite sure how I will get myself to that finish line. Before embarking on this crazy journey, I had never done a triathlon before and basically was unable to front crawl - my attempts at this l looked like one big splash and the idea of doing lengths in the pool never occurred to me, let alone 152 lengths worth (of a 25m pool, i.e. 3.8km) in open water. So if I survive the swim, I should somehow make it to the finish line is what I keep telling myself...
To make sure this whole thing is not completely out of reach, I have been trying to train hard-ish - so here is our race calendar (with the first results). 2 down, 1 to go:
- 17-July: Fambridge Yacht Haven – Half-Ironman-Triathlon in 5:23h
- 31-July: Prudential Ride London – 100 mile cycle in 4:57h
- 04-Sept: Koeln 226 Triathlon – the Iron-Distance (The Big Day!) with the aim of under 13 hours
13 hours – that is 1.5h for the swim, 6.5h for the cycle, and 5h for the marathon...
By sponsoring me to go the Iron-Distance, you will be helping refugees, internally displaced people and those who have returned home after conflicts to rebuild their lives. Just some examples of how far our donations can go:
- £365 can provide 5 girls in Uganda with scholarships
- £480 can pay the salary of a teacher in South Sudan
IRT, as a charity, is well established having been founded in 1989 and with a focused approach on a small number of countries and projects that continue over years if not decades. Helping people get the skills to help themselves, and more importantly others, is for me one of the most important parts of charity and clearly something that IRT does very well. If, like me, you need to read up on a charity before donating rather than taking my word for how good they are and what they do then all the links are below.
www.irt.org.uk/
www.koelntriathlon.de/
www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/100/
www.dengieevents.co.uk/#/fambridge-yacht-haven-tri/4543261097
Thanks for reading this and Vielen Dank for your support.
Matthias