Belinda Dawson is training hard for her first full Ironman challenge for charity in memory of her stepfather.
Belinda, who works in our parts, clothing and accessories department, is taking part in Ironman Lanzarote on 23 May next year for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
It is a cause close to her heart after her stepfather, Tom Pettican, passed as a result of Alzheimer’s in May this year.
She hopes to raise £3,500 and is already more than £500 towards her target.
“I just want to try to make a difference because I hate to see families going through living with Alzheimer’s. It’s hard for the person with Alzheimer’s but it’s hard for the family too.”
Tom was in the Metropolitan Police, based at Forest Gate in West Ham, London. When he retired from the Met he worked in the British Transport Police at Ipswich.
This will be Belinda’s first full Ironman and involves a 2.4-mile sea swim in the Atlantic Ocean, 112 miles on the bike and then a full marathon covering 26.2 miles.
Competitors have a total of 17 hours to complete the triathlon including transition time to change kit ready for the next element.
There are cut-off times of up to two hours 20 minutes for the swim, up nine hours for the bike ride and five hours 40 minutes for the marathon.
She is aiming to get ahead on the swim and bike ride, leaving extra time for the run.
“I don’t want to come first, I just want to finish it and raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. If it takes 17 hours so be it,” she said.
“I want to achieve doing an Ironman.”
Belinda, who has always been sporty and used to play ladies football, started doing triathlons in 2012 having seen one in Lanzarote.
Her interest in triathlons was fuelled when she joined a gym where, by chance, the manager did triathlons and gave her lots of useful advice.
She has completed half a dozen Ironman 70.3s, so called because they are half the distance of a full 140.6-mile Ironman.
Belinda, 52, is training six days a week for her charity Ironman.
Now the weather is bad she is cycling on an indoor trainer, and trying the replicate the hills she will have to tackle in Lanzarote, swimming once a week and running a couple of times a week.
She is also doing a couple of weekly strength workouts with weights.
Having discovered Ironman in Lanzarote, and completed Ironman 70.3s on the island, it is fitting she is going back again to where it all started for her charity challenge.
“Even though it’s one of the hardest Ironmans, hot, windy and a lot of hills, I know the island.
“I know it will be hard but I’ve done most of the climbs on the bike,” she added.
Our Christmas cake and coffee morning, hosted at the Ranelagh Road dealership in Ipswich by our Club Kawasaki ambassadors Ian and Sam Andrews, on Saturday 6 December from 10am, will also raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. There will be a raffle with lots of prizes.
If you want to help Belinda towards her fund-raising target visit her Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/page/belinda-dawson-15
