Raising money for The Oxygen Works and Headway Highland

Hey, I hope life is treating you well.  A wee interlude for you in my story of rehab.  Well, it is linked;)  A couple of charities have been integral parts of my recovery.  I have decided to take on 4 events this year (yep, you’ve guessed it…. linked to my recovery, but more on that later) and I would like to raise as much money as possible for the charities in question.  The Oxygen Works part of the money will contribute to their Kilt Work fund raising which I believe will be matched by Sir Tom Hunter as in previous years.

I have set up one just giving page and will split the cash 50/50 at the end.  Keep it simple and save you the agony of deciding who you like to donate to ;) The Oxygen Works and Headway Highland have been there for most of the journey, and I cannot thank them enough. Great support in different ways and they both support so many people across the Highlands and Islands.  I am still involved with both charities today and I would be so grateful if you could spare a few pennies to help them doing the great work that they do.

As mentioned above I am going to compete in four events this year and they will contribute to TOWs fundraising through the Kiltwalk as well.  You might have guessed one given the name of the blog! Not the full Celtman but the Celtman0.5.  For those not familiar to this world, Celtman is an extreme Iron Man distance triathlon around Torridon and the 0.5 is a Half Iron Man version.  That includes cycling over the Beallach Na Ba.  I will also endeavour to complete the Inverness Half Marathon in March, The Loch Ness Marathon in October and the Dava Ultra in November.  I daresay there will be other events along the way but these are the main ones.  

I’ll talk about this in future blogs but it is fair to say goals to get back to fitness has been a big driver in helping my recovery.  From the minute the consultant told me I may never walk again I remember thinking, that will not be the outcome if I have anything to do with it. I had entered the Celtman ballot b4 the accident but I certainly wasn’t thinking at that stage that competing in the race was a possibility. I wanted to get back to training and triathlon if at all possible but baby steps at that stage.   You will hear in later blogs that there was a point when I thought, maybe Celtman is possible.  Fast forward 3 and a bit years and here we are.  And it is “just” the Celtman 0.5. If it goes well I will definitely enter the ballot for the full Celtman in the future.  I don’t think I’ll be going as fast as I might have been (well I am an old man these days ;)) but just to be there will be reward in itself.  And it is one of my favourite parts of the world.  

So my plan through the blog is to take you on the journey preparing for the races as well as the longer story of recovery.  And as you will hear, people and their incredible support is a constant throughout the journey.  So if I can give something back, through you, I would be so grateful :)