Thanks for visiting my fundraising page 👋🏼

Following on from my charity fundraising initiative last year, I thought I'd give it another go for another great cause with the National Autistic Society.

The National Autistic Society's vision is to create a society that works for autistic people by providing support to autistic people and their families, improving public understandings of autism, and delivering autism-friendly services.

My wonderful niece, Kaelyn, sees the world in her own brilliant way - and if hundreds of training hours, a full Ironman, a marathon (and more events to come!) helps support a world that understands and supports her and other remarkable humans like her better - then bring it on 💪🏼

She inspires me with her strength, cleverness, joy and determination - and this is my way of cheering her on - while hoping she appreciates the effort slightly more than my body will 😅

Those who know me will also probably attest that I'm also on the neurodivergent spectrum with pretty bad ADHD, I never saw anyone about it, and following events from this year and few friends who have recently been diagnosed pretty late in life - I have decided that I will also get it looked into in 2026 to see how to better manage it...

Every kilometer in 2026 will be for Kaelyn, Team Autism and a world for all kinds of minds 🩷

My sport calendar is still taking shape but for now there are two A Races:

- Ironman Austria in June (that's a 3.8km swim, followed by 180km of biking followed by 42km of running - a follow on from my successful 70.3 in October)

- The BMW Berlin Marathon in September (one of the largest marathons in the world and will see me run the historic streets of Berlin and finish at the Brandenburg Gate - I'm aiming for a sub 3h race time)

It's been quite the journey to get here over the past year: going from heavy smoking, drinking and eating and no sport in 20 years to losing 30 kg's, 600+ hours of exercise in 2025, clothing from XL to S (sometimes XS), stopped smoking, drink very rarely and went from the bottom 1% VO2 Max to the top 1% - this is only the beginning though...

I would be ever so grateful if you could help donate, whatever you are comfortable with, towards this great cause - giving feels good :)

From this page, you can follow my fitness progress as I have connected my Strava (if you’re also on there then you can connect with me here) and you can check out my site and photography here.

I'll be dropping occasional updates on this page and don't hesitate to leave a comment or share something inspirational to help cheer me on 🙌🏼

I wish you and yours a 2026 full of much health, happiness and love 🥂

And let's all remember to count our blessings, show gratitude and help our neighbours as we are all on this journey of life together.

A beautiful age-old African philosophy and word that sums this up is Ubuntu which essentially means "I am because we are" or "humanity towards others".

𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦:

𝟭𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵: A few days after cycling over 700km whilst climbing 9,000m (the equivalent of Everest!) and running a bunch at a training camp in Gran Canaria - I spontaneously bought a bib for the KPMG Lentemarathon half-marathon, 3 days before the race 😏 This 10KM version of this race last year was my first race since school just a few months after my first run in over 20 years prior and where this transformation really accelerated after no sport in the same period of time 🤯 I decided upon a target of hitting the sub 1h30 🎯 Race day, cold but the sun was shining ☀️ Gun goes off and it's go time - it was spicy 🔥

Just hit my target in 1:29:40. 4:14 pace. Top 6% 🤘😎🤘

𝟭𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹: About the Amstel Gold Race... ventured south to Limburg with 40 of my other ATAC - Amsterdam Triathlon and Cycling Club and Cycling Club 🥰 Coach had told me to do the 150km distance but the night before in briefing my little devils told me to go for the full 240km 😅 Next morning eating porridge and bananas at 5:15am, on very little sleep, coz of the dorm full of snorers 🤦🏻‍♂️ What followed was one of the toughest, and most memorable days I’ve had on the bike - my new Canyon Aeroad CFR (baptized Aurora) 💥

🚴‍♂️ 240 km | ~3,000 m elevation | 28.5km/h average | ~8 hours

𝟭𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝘆: After completing a training Rondje Markermeer of 150km - I crashed my bike a mere 5km's from home and it was pretty bad 🙈 The next weekend, battered and bruised I raced the BROGO BMW De Mey/Stromar Lievegem #Triathlon in Belgium this past Sunday 🇧🇪 Swim was upstream in a river, I started with the Pros which was a bad idea as tried to keep up with the animals, energy depleted after 500m, heart rate a crazy 164... did the 1.9km in 45 mins 🏊🏼‍♂️ Despite the atrocious 40km/h+ winds from all around on the 5 loops and sharp turns throughout, I did the 92km on #bike in 2:48 at ~33km/h 🌬️🚴🏼‍♂️ Then the #run, that's my thing 🏃🏻‍♂️ Despite the challenging 2 first rounds, and very cooked legs, I was able to complete the half-marathon in 1:33 at a 4:24 pace 🔥

Finish time: 5h11 (shaving 14 minutes off my PB for this distance), given the conditions and my battered body, I'm happy with that 👌🏼

𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲: I. AM. AN. IRONMAN 🥳💪🏼

IRONMAN Klagenfurt done in 11 hours and 6 mins ⏱️

3.8km #Swim: 1h22 🏊🏼‍♂️

180 km (1800m+ elevation) #Bike: 5h41 🚵‍♂️

42.2km #Run: 3h47 🏃🏻‍♂️

Smashed my 11h30 target 🎯

It could have been sub 11h if it wasn’t for the massive 5 minute shit in T2 staring at the portaloo door contemplating my life choices and the never-ending several minute police horses piss on the run 💩 That was a helluva day and now have so much more respect for this sport and especially this distance... a middle distance #triathlon is child’s play in comparison, I wanted a sub 3h30 marathon but severely underestimated just how hard the run is after cooking your legs for 7 hours 👨🏻‍🍳🍗 I learned what they meant when they say Ironman starts on the second half of the marathon - it was so hot 27 degrees and a war zone out there, saw ppl dying (ambulance carts scooping them off the ground), vomiting, lying on the ground everywhere, crawling, staring up at the sky aimlessly, hoards of zombies 🧟‍♂️

Now I will build towards Berlin and I have started planting seeds to shoot for a sub 10 hour Ironman for next year 💪🏼