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Around 8 months ago I got the moderately ambitious goal of taking on an Ironman (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42km run) despite lacking any real experience in just one of the disciplines let alone all three together. But with a sprinkling of naive optimism, a borrowed bike and an ambitious training plan, I set about trying to turn myself from a Weet-bix triathlete to an Ironman one. It was however for a good cause- Arthritis NZ, a charity close to my heart. 

The charity does amazing work, for people of all ages, from providing advocacy, to funding research into the condition, to helping establish support groups. For me personally however it was the Arthritis NZ children’s camp, held every year, that provided me and my family with an amazing amount of support when I was diagnosed with arthritis at around age 10. Whilst I was pretty lucky and got away with relatively mild symptoms, many kids face far worse outlooks with some having to undergo joint replacements in their teenage years. This can be hugely distressing not just for the kids involved but also for the families who have to make tough choices in regards to their kids health with the little information known about the condition. Arthritis NZ helps by providing the support that is often not available from the health system. For the children, events such as the children’s camp provide an opportunity to make friends with kids in the same boat, learn how to deal with the challenges of the condition and most importantly to forget, for a time, the stress of the new diagnosis and to just be kids. For the parents, the charity does an amazing job of portraying what their child is going through and connects them with specialists so that they can make the best decisions possible for their kid. This is just scratching the surface on what the charity provides so if you want to find out more you can go to: https://www.arthritis.org.nz/