This is my 2nd Tough Mudder - the first one was earlier this year, when in fact I did it just for pleasure. I failed to even consider raising any money for any worthwhile charity, and after the pain and torture of such an event there was no way I was going to make that mistake again!

The Shark Trust is a great charity, and is also the charity that Nigel Wade supported. Nigel was a talented professional photographer both above and below water, who I had the pleasure of diving with on a few occasions. Nigel was an infectious person who had a gazillion friends - it was impossible to have met him and not fall in love with his personality, wit and charm - a legend to many, who sadly passed away at home in the U.K. earlier this year.

Any of you that know me well, will know I'm a self confessed shark nut. I've spent some time studying them, and love any opportunity to go scuba diving with them whenever I can swindle another weeks holiday from work!

In all seriousness though, they're getting a rough ride at the moment. Over 100 million sharks (yes 100,000,000) are killed every year, prodiminantly for their fins (some crazy people in this world see shark fin soup as a good meal) and through bycatch by huge commercial fishing companies, often illegally. Simply put, if we continue to see these numbers killed we will end up with no planet to live on. Harsh you think? Well no it isn't!

Sharks keep the coral reefs healthy. They eat the big fish that eat the small fish. The small fish help the reefs to grow by eating even smaller things that feed on the coral itself. All the little fish are being eaten because there's too many big fish! Why should we care you ask?? Well, believe it or not, the worlds coral reefs provide us with  2/3rds of the world oxygen. All this time and money spent saving the rain forests when what we should be saving is under the water!

Sharks and rays are some of the ocean's most amazing animals. Present in our seas for 400 million years, they are vital and valuable but also vulnerable. Around a quarter of the 1000 or so species of sharks and rays are considered "threatened", largely due to the impact of unsustainable fisheries. The Shark Trust works tirelessly in the UK and around the World to ensure endangered species of sharks are suitably protected, while also pushing for science-based fisheries management for all species to ensure long term sustainability.

Thanks for reading. 🦈❤️