Facts and figures
Date of Birth: 22/04/69 Bushey, Hertfordshire, ENGLAND
Height: 165 cms
Weight: 68 kgs
Married: To Amy (July 2003)
Family: Margaret (Mum), Vic (Dad), Alison & Susan (my twin sisters)

Childhood

Primary School
I was brought up in North West London in a place called Colindale. I was always active, even as a child. I started playing mini-rugby aged 4 for Mill Hill RFC and also used to run 3 miles with my dad, who was training for marathons. At 4 I went to Barnfield Primary School. I was very quiet but did well at my lessons, especially maths. I did all the sports at school but was not allowed in the school choir as my singing voice was (and still is) appalling! In my last year at school our team won the league for the first time. I was also in the team that competed against 64 other schools in a knockout police and road safety competition. It was so nerve wracking. We eventually got to the final, won it and then had the honour of going to tea with the mayor!

At 8 I joined my local cubs pack (8th Edgware). It was brilliant. We had a football team and won the league and cup double 3 years running. I also competed twice in the area cross-country. The first year I was 50th but the next year came 1st. I was well chuffed!

I really enjoyed my time at primary school. Despite my shyness, I gained confidence from sport.

Secondary School
After leaving Barnfield I went to Edgware Comprehensive School. It was 3 miles away and I used to walk there and back with my sisters each day. I remember being so nervous my first day there. It seemed so big compared to my old primary school. I had also been told that all the school bullies stuck your head down the toilet on your first day but that was fortunately untrue.
I got on really well at school. Despite my shyness I was captain of the rugby and football teams and in every other sports team. My year group were not very good at sport and we finished bottom of the league in every sport. But we had an important quality- determination. We were determined to do well and eventually by Year 10 we had become the best team at most sports. We also won the football league for the first time. I learnt an important lesson. If you keep trying you will eventually succeed.

Academically I did very well and worked hard. I was still extremely shy and didn’t like to put my hand up in class despite usually knowing the answers.

My home life was extremely happy and active. We all did lots of active things together and my sisters and I never seemed to argue.

I left school with 11 GCSE’s and 3 A Levels. I didn’t really want to go to university so got a job with a large insurance company in Central London.

I only lasted a year there. I absolutely hated it there. It was so boring and I had to travel 1 hour each way on the underground tube each day. On the journey I would see how miserable the people looked, and most of them were probably doing jobs similar to mine. I didn’t want to end up like them. I decided I wanted to do something with my life. I applied for university and got accepted to study economics at the City of London University.

University
Even at university I was still very shy. I found it difficult to make new friends. But I worked very hard at university. When I left school I was just an average runner, running races for my local club-Shaftesbury Harriers. I would never do well but always enjoyed competing. I knew I had lots of endurance and I often found races too short. I did my first marathon in 1989 and found that too short and a bit of a disappointment. People think of the marathon as being the ultimate endurance event but I didn’t feel satisfied when I finished. So that year I entered my first ultra race –running 80 miles along the South Downs. It was brilliant. Despite my tender age I did really well. I had such a feeling of excitement and elation. That year I also did my first triathlon (swim/bike/run). I couldn’t swim very well when I did my first race but really enjoyed it. All season I raced in Briton and improved a great deal although I still didn’t do very well. But I had found something that I loved and began to train really hard.

Over the next 2 years I began to improve. In 1990 I did my first Ironman triathlon. The Ironman is considered to be the ultimate sporting test. It was started by U.S Commander John Collins as a test to see who was the fittest – a swimmer, cyclist or runner. Based in Hawaii he thought of 3 endurance races there- the Waikiki 2.4 mile swim, the 122 mile round the island bike race and the 26.2 mile Honolulu Marathon. He put the 3 events together and called it the Ironman. Only 15 people entered the first race but it grew into a huge race- The Hawaii Ironman World Championships. By 1990 there were 1500 competitors who had to qualify from races all over the world. I decided I wanted to qualify.

My first Ironman race in England was not a qualifying race but I did very well. I had found something I could be good at.
At university I worked very hard and eventually left in 1991 with a good degree in economics.

In July 1991 I raced the European Ironman in Germany. I improved by nearly an hour from my first Ironman race and managed to qualify for the famous Hawaii Ironman.

As my degree had finished I decide to take the opportunity to race in Hawaii and then go travelling for a year.

My travelling days
After racing in Hawaii I went to live in Sydney Australia. I got a job as a bicycle courier, delivering documents around the centre of Sydney. It really improved my cycling and during 1992 really improved. I ended up travelling and racing in Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada, eventually going back to Hawaii to see a huge improvement. But I still wasn’t brilliant. I found even the Ironman too short.

But my year travelling had given me a great deal of confidence. I learnt to mix with people a lot better and lost some of my shyness.
When I got back to England I found I couldn’t settle. So I spent the next couple of years travelling, working and racing all over the world, basing myself in Australia in the winter and England in the summer.

My performance kept getting better and better and by 1994 was the first British finisher in the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. But I knew I would never win the race. I knew I had to do something even longer than the Ironman.

My ultra distance triathlon career
In 1995 I entered my first ultra distance triathlon race-the World triple Ironman Championships in France. As the name suggests the race is 3 times a normal Ironman (7.2 mile swim, 336 mile cycle, 78 mile run). Although a complete unknown and in appalling weather, I eventually finished 2nd in 37 hours, just losing the lead in the final few miles. But at last I had found something I was really good at.

The next year I was favourite for the race. But I trained too hard and ended up sick in the race and in a terribly disappointing 6th place.

1997 was my best ever year. I was ranked number 1 in the world for ultra triathlons and had some great results. The year ended with me competing in the world’s longest and toughest triathlon- the World Deca-Ironman Championships in Monterrey, Mexico. Billed as the toughest race on the planet we had to swim 24 miles, cycle 1120 miles and run 262 miles. Read all about this race in another part of the website. Boy was it hard. A combination of too many miles, sleep deprivation, too many painkillers and injury meant that I was in a real state afterwards. And it took me a long time to recover from, physically and mentally.

Post Deca-Ironman
I have never really recovered from the deca-Ironman. The painkillers ate into my stomach lining and have given me all sorts of problems. At first I didn’t know what was wrong. I felt tired and ill. 1998 was a complete write off. Then in 1999 I found out that my stomach problems had been caused by a food allergy. So I eliminated certain foods from my diet. Almost immediately I felt better. It was amazing. I was ready for a comeback.

2000 was a great year. I started off by beating the record for cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats and back. Some great races followed. I was tempted to race the deca-Ironman again but it became clear that my body wasn’t ready for that punishment again. An invitation to be part of the running race across Australia followed and that proved to be a turning point in my life. Read about the Trans-Australia Footrace in the section about Australia. I came out of the Trans-Australia in great shape and a place at teacher training college. I had known for a long time that this competing lark was great, but I had to face the fact that I needed a career. I needed something that would be rewarding and challenging. I chose primary school teaching. I felt that after all my experiences I could offer children a great deal.

Life as a teacher
Teacher training college was brilliant. It was fantastic to be back at university 10 years after I had finished my degree. I now had the confidence to mix socially and had a great time meeting new people. I also happened to meet my future wife Amy, who was on the same course. For years I had concentrated solely on my sport with little or no time for someone else.

When we qualified as teachers, Amy and I celebrated by cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End as a holiday. It was great.
My first year at teaching saw Amy and I working together at a fantastic school in Cornwall called Stoke Climsland. I had a fantastic year. Of course I made sure the kids got more than enough P.E. It is so important to get exercise but unfortunately a lot of children these days are brought up on a diet of play station, junk food and going everywhere by car.

My proudest moment of 2003 was seeing my tag-rugby team at school winning the county championships. Being on the sidelines watching the final was one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life. But they did it.

Becoming a teacher was supposed to be the end of my sporting career. But during the course of last year I felt my fitness dropping. I realised I didn’t want to become unfit. Sport has been such a huge part of my life.

So when I heard about the run across America I knew I had to do it. But I knew I couldn’t just do it for myself. I have the opportunity to help others. That is why I am raising money for C.H.I.C.K.S and also a reason I have put this website and project together for school children.

The future
Sport will always be a great part of my life. Everyone is good at something. Too many people don’t take time to try and see what they are good at. I was pretty average as a youngster. Yet I always knew I would achieve a lot in my life. Take time to find out what you are good at. You never know what it will lead to.