UltraHumps: 3 + 2 + 1 = Charity

Hi everyone – this is it!

My next challenge/s with turning 50 today (Friday 1 July 2016) and once again all in the name of raising funds for my chosen charity of Fallen Heroes – KIWI = Killed, Injured, Wounded and Ill, focusing on channeling the funds to support the children left behind.

As you can imagine a lot of water is to go under the bridge, with making contact with management of the various events, sponsors, give-a-little, NZDF, medical checks, media and 100’s of hours of training etc, but I will keep you all updated as we travel the journey together.

Firstly though, many thanks to my Coach Ray Boardman of Qwik Kiwi for reviewing my intent and having faith that ‘we’ can achieve this challenge and for understanding my personal reasons for wishing to postpone the announcement a few weeks ago.

How did I come up with this?

Well I made it back from Ultraman Australia relatively in tact and I deliberately decided to stay off-line as far as coming up with my next charitable event/s until after Queens Birthday weekend.  This was to give me a chance to reflect and a chance to let my body recover from the 515 kilometres of swimming, cycling and running over three days. Coach Ray was giving me low key activities to assist with the recovery.

Once Queens Birthday Weekend rolled around I was itching at the bit to get back into it (going stir crazy) and began searching the following weekend for events, even though I had a fair idea what I wanted to do as I was thinking over ideas whilst on the aircraft crossing the Tasman back to Aotearoa.

Once I ran the idea by Coach Ray and he gave me the green light, a few personal challenges made me decide to place this on hold.  Ray gave me some excellent advice as did members of my family.  Now its game on!

A guy in the Air Force and I were chatting during a stretching session in the gym and gave me the idea of 3 Half Ironman events over 3 consecutive weekends. He was really just thinking out loud, but unbeknown to him my mind was racing in overdrive. So what are the three Half Ironman distance events over three consecutive weekends?

IronMaori Half Ironman – 3 December  2016

Ironman 70.3 Taupo – 10 December 2016

Rotorua Half Ironman – 17 December 2016

I then reflected on my mate Tommy Hirst who I joined the Army with when we were both 16 year old Cadets. Tommy completed two Ironman distances this year to test himself with turning 50, which I am today. So what are the two Ironman distance events over two weeks?

Challenge Wanaka – 18 February 2017

Ironman Taupo – 4 March 2017

At the Awards Ceremony for Ultraman Australia, when I was on-stage receiving the Military Division Award for winning that category, I knew then that with winning the Military Division I should return to defend my title and be happy to hand it over to the next winner, or just as happy to retain it. It is a personal thing, but I don’t think it should simply be handed over by not being contested by the current holder. So what is the one Ultraman distance event over 1 long weekend?

Ultraman Australia – 13-15 May 2017

3 + 2 + 1 = CHARITY

3 = 3 Half Ironman distance events over 3 consecutive weekends

2 = 2 Ironman distance events over 2 weeks

1 = 1 Ultraman distance event over 1 long weekend

– John Humphries