Personal message

Hi guys

 

This year I am competing in the 70.3 (half Ironman) in East London on the 25th of January and the Ironman in Port Elizabeth on the 29th of March for the Smile foundation.

 

I would never have imagined loving the toughest moment of my life, until I got married – and completed Ironman. It’s no easy race. A 3.8km swim towards the unknown in chilly, choppy waters. The slow burn of a 180km cycle up and down endless hills. This, topped off with a 42.2km run to add insult to injury. You get 17 hours to complete the race, which would make it a couple hours more than just the worst day of your life. 

But I can tell you, there is nothing like that moment you cross the red carpet. After having every last drop of heart and energy you have in you tested to the limit. Every muscle, every tendon screaming at you for mercy, your well of inspiration all but dry. And then, just when you feel you can’t take another step, that those last few metres in whats been a relentless string of kilometres will be the ones that get the better of you, you catch sight of the finish line in front of you. From somewhere you didn’t know existed, you experience a burst of energy you never knew you had – and it gets you through. Whether you crawled the last mile, or freewheeled half the race, you find the strength to burst through that ribbon with everything that you have got.

The Ironman experience cannot be summed up in a few words because you can't truly describe the sheer emotion of every minute of the race, not least finishing it. You have to reach deep, but you can find it. Ironman taught me that the impossible is possible. Proving that for one day, an ordinary person – any ordinary person – can do something extraordinary. We all have the power to be great inside us. We just have to find that thing that it is going to teach us to start digging. 

Partner with me through my agony and my elation, as we put smiles on the faces of children in South Africa.  

Thanks in advance for whatever you can give—nothing is too big or too small — to support me in this endeavor.

See you on the other side of the finish line.

Gary

 

 

Donations