Challenge Complete!

An extremely exciting start to the iron man, we took our last group snap before becoming Iron Men!

Alex and I were in the same wave and Mr Harrison was scheduled in the wave behind.

The morning was one of the most surreal mornings and was captured very well in the first three minutes of the following You Tube

clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UvVRDdiJ2s.

Going into T1 I was elated, the swim was over

and I survived it! I rarely broke my stroke and maintained a relaxed swimming style throughout, knowing that I was never going to brake records I swam within my capabilities and

enjoyed the beautiful morning and the excitement of the event. It was a cold morning and I felt extremely cold entering T1, it took me approx 1 1/2 hours to warm up on

the bike and gain a sense of excitement back into my race. The supporters throughout were amazing and lifted the spirit of all the athletes taking part, I was particularly privileged

to have a very strong support team, which made up of my lovely wife, Mother in law, very close friends from Worksop, friends from Marlow and colleagues. Once again I approached this element of the competition with vigour but maintained my focus on my own race, knowing the bike wasn't made for 112miles and a climb totalling 5900ft per loop. The cycling was exciting topping out at 40mph from Neetlebed back towards Henley was exhilarating, however the high gears made each climb difficult.

The aggressive position the late 80's retro bike left my lower back in agony entering the final stages of the event. Entering T2 was a great

feeling however I was unsure of how I could run having the unwanted strain on my lower back.

My first lap was all about jogging off my aches

and pains. The crowd once again kept

me going as I managed to focus on my stride and pace, to ensure I stayed relaxed I thoroughly enjoy the event and at this stage I knew there where never going to be technical difficulties that could stop me from achieving my goal. I hit the first half marathon surprisingly well, clocking around 1 hour 47 minutes. Aiming to sub 4 hours

on the marathon was at this stage in my grasp. I was fortunate not to have any toilet troubles and clocked a 3 hour 47 minute marathon. Overall I clocked a 1hr15minute swim, 6 hrs 28min bike, which gave me an 11hr 42minute Iron Man time. To see Stewart and I finish click on the following You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBX_VcP9HzU to See all our

results and pictures click on the following links: Photo's: http://www.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event.py?event=Sports%2FGKDE%2F2011%2FChallenge+Henley-on-Thames&new_search=1&match=426 Results: http://results.racetectiming.com/MyResults.aspx?CId=38&RId=214&EId=1&AId=72232