I’m IN!!!!!!!!

It’s official….  I’m off to Hawaii next October.  I keep having to pinch myself, but Sharon and I will be flying out to Kona early in October and I’ll be standing on that famous beach on 8th October shoulder to shoulder with some of the greatest athletes on the planet.

I’m not worthy of their company from an athletic perspective, but hopefully I’ll be worthy of the slot I’ve taken having raised in excess of £50,000 for Scope.

The last few weeks have been a real journey.  What started with a casual comment from a friend on a bike ride (‘Do you fancy doing Kona for charity’), turned into a few days of soul searching (Can I do it? Can I raise the money? Is it just a selfish indulgence?) and from there into some speculative conversations firstly with the lovely Vivienne from Scope and then with some potential sponsors.

And then, today, confirmation that I’m in and can ‘go public’.

Now the hard-yards start – training, planning and, of course, fund raising.

So in the last 48 hours I’ve learnt how to set up a website (comments and feedback please), set up my Just Giving page and registered a domain (andrew2kona.com).  I’m buzzing and would love to have you along for the journey – either by following my blog here, coming out from time to time on a training ride, helping out with sponsorship events or simply just by putting your hand in your pocket and donating.  You can donate here.  Tell your friends, family and work colleagues.  Fifty Thousand pounds is a lot of money but every little helps.

Finally some thank-you’s.  I know it’s only just the start, but already a number of people have helped along the.  Here goes….

Thanks to Monty Gershon.  That bike ride in Henley was the start & I’m so very grateful for the introduction to Scope.

Thanks to Vivienne and all at Scope for offering me the place and believing that (a) I’ll do a great job of fund raising and (b) that I’ll be able to drag my ar$e around Ironman Hawaii.

Thanks to my brother, Kevin and his wife Lucy.  Four bottles of wine was all it took to convince me to go for it!

Meg and Alice – your cry of ‘go for it Dad’ tipped the balance.

And finally, Shaz – you know I couldn’t consider doing these silly things without your un-ending support.  I’ll never stop appreciating it.  Thank you for finally convincing me that if all else failed, you’d be happy to bake 50,000 cup cakes and sell the for £1 each to raise the money!