An East Lancashire man is putting his fitness to the test by running an ‘Ironman’ extended triathlon during every month of 2021.
Elliott Wood, from Sabden, said he took on the mammoth fitness challenge to curb his lockdown boredom and also to raise some money for charity.
He explained: “I’m doing it for my own mental health and also because it’s a good opportunity to raise money.
“I’ve done a few of them before and I just knew a lot of official races and events would be cancelled because of the pandemic so I designed my own.”
The extended triathlon consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and a marathon length 26.2 mile run – and Elliott has completed 10 of these so far with two more left to go.
The 36-year-old said the mammoth exercise can take as long as 15 hours to complete each time and often sees him waking up at 1am to get started on it.
However, he explained that he usually “doesn’t feel too bad” after completing one and has to go back to three small children after clocking his miles in.
He also has to balance the challenge alongside his work as a teacher at Hyndburn Park Primary School.
He said: “I teach and lead an early years department so I have a lot of stuff going on there, a lot of stuff going on at home – so there is a lot to juggle at the minute so I will be quite happy when I finish!”
Elliott makes his own routes around the Ribble Valley, often cycling at home, running hundreds of laps around parks and getting most of his 2.4 mile swims in at Hyndburn Sports Centre.
He also has to carry all of his provisions along the way, stopping off at the shop for supplies.
He explained: “Cycling is the most boring part because I’m sat there for five hours just cycling away at home.
“There was a point when I thought about stopping it but I thought I’m never going to be as fit as I am now and it’s for a positive thing so there’s no point in stopping it.”
To add some excitement to his runs, Elliott often wears fancy dress and has dressed as a chicken and a witch during the year.
He said: “Fancy dress just make the runs more interesting. I’ve dressed as a chicken and the last one I ran around a 250m park for the marathon dressed as the Pendle witch.
“The Pendle witch run was the most mind-numbing thing I’ve ever done but it was good fun because I had a load of people from around Sabden turn up with their kids, as it was part of an event.
“I think I did about 200 laps of the park and got £1 for each lap.”
Elliott also has a fancy dress idea up his sleeve for December when he plans to be dressed as Santa for the run “complete with twinkly lights”.
With one month left, Elliott has raised a total of £3,235 (including gift aid) but is hoping to boost this number a little more in the coming weeks.
He said: “Whatever the amount I finish up with I will be happy with - I just want to keep adding to the total”.
Proceeds will be split between Macmillan, Parkinsons UK and Acton for Children charities.
To donate to Elliott, visit his Virgin Money Giving page.
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