Iron man Ian’s charity marathon

COMPETING in a triathlon – cycling, swimming and running – is no light undertaking. But when your cycle ride is coast to coast, your run is the London Marathon and your swim is the English Channel, it is a whole different ball game.

But that’s what former nurse and healthcare lecturer Dr Ian Holt is doing to raise awareness of men’s health issues – in particular, cancer.

“I’ve always been pretty fit and have taken part in marathons, triathlons and an ironman (2.5-mile swim, 112-mile cycle and 26.2-mile marathon run) challenge.

“I wanted to do something to raise awareness of men’s health. I spoke to the people at the Orchid charity about what I could do to help, and, as joke, said I could swim the Channel.”

Orchid is the only UK-registered cancer charity to focus entirely on the male-specific cancers – prostate, penile and testicular.

Although Ian was a strong swimmer in his youth, he hadn’t done any serious swimming since he was 16.

But after the seed was sown, Ian, 48, decided to turn it into an endurance triathlon of his own.

“I first started this endurance challenge in summer 2010 with my sons, aged 12 and 15, when we cycled 150 miles coast to coast across northern England,” explains Ian, a lecturer in the School of Healthcare at Leeds University.

“I am now in training for the London Marathon, in just over a week’s time, and also building up my swimming stamina to achieve a Dover-to-France swim of 22-28 miles, in July, which will take between 12 and 18 hours.”

His monthly training average is 24 hours swimming, 120 miles running, plus cycling and rowing to keep fit. To qualify to be able to swim the Channel, he has to take part in a six-hour sea swim, on June 25, at Dover.

He is currently swimming at the John Charles Centre for Sport, in Leeds, with the help of Leeds city swimming coach Alan Miller, and plans to start building up his outdoor swimming soon – mainly swimming in the river Wharfe near his home, in Collingham, and then sea swimming off Bridlington.

“I have never done serious sea swimming before and it is entirely different to swimming in a pool. The biggest danger is hypothermia – and the jelly fish,” says Ian. “I really need to bulk up a bit but I am taking advice from a nutritionist so that I eat the right things.”

Fewer than 1,000 people have successfully swum the Channel, and Ian has had to pay for a pilot boat to accompany him from Dover to France, as well as obtaining a licence.

“They are allowed to feed me along the way but I cannot touch the boat or I will be disqualified.”

But it is not just the physical side of the challenge for which Ian needs to be prepared.

“They say you have to be mental to do it in the first place, and mentally strong to finish it.

“I have spoken to a number of cross-Channel swimmers and they all say it is when you get really tired that the mental side of things becomes important, but I am doing this for a really important cause and people have already generously sponsored me, so there is no backing out now.

“Many  colleagues have made donations which both helps the charity and motivates me at 6am, facing a two-hour swim,  stood on a cold, lonely beach,” he said.

“I was in nursing for 25 years before becoming a healthcare lecturer. I have become increasingly aware that particularly testicular cancer is spread across the whole spectrum of age-groups of men.

“As a bloke, and with having sons, I thought it was a good way of making people more aware of these cancers.”

Ian’s aim is to raise £5,000, and anyone who wants to sponsor him should visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ianholtmalecancerappeal

AWARENESS WEEK

* Male Cancer Awareness Week is April 11-17.

* Every year, more than 37,000 men will be diagnosed with testicular, prostate or penile cancer. 

* Early detection, diagnosis and treatment can help increase survival rates and save men’s lives.