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A man from Lostock Hall has raised £2,500 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation by completing seven ‘Ironman’ events.
He decided to raise the funds after losing two family members and a best friend to cancer.
Matthew Reith, 38, completed the challenges in just six months. He started in Lanzarote in May where he took part in a full competition – a 2.4-mile sea swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26-mile marathon.
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He followed it with two half Ironmans in June in Nice and Bolton and another full Ironman in Northern Spain a month later.
In September, Matthew completed a half Ironman in Austria. In October, he followed it with his third full Ironman in Barcelona, which saw him cross the finish line in his best full event time of 11 hours, 8 minutes.
Just a couple of weeks later, Matthew was back in Spain to take on his final half-Ironman in Marbella.
Carrying an Achilles injury and after enduring a trio of bike ride punctures, Matthew was cheered home almost two hours later than expected by wife Wendy, 13-year-old son Daniel and a group of friends.
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He said: “Now I’m home though, the emotion of it all has started to hit me. I undertook the challenge in memory of three people we lost recently to cancer – my Uncle Paul Banks, my father-in-law Jim Sudell and one of my best mates Walter Jones.
“They all lived in Preston and Rosemere Cancer Centre had been there for both Jim and Walter.
“I have had fantastic support from my family and friends for which I am very grateful. I also owe my sponsors a big thank you.
“Taking part in Ironman is very expensive. Without 4th Industrial sponsoring my travel expenses and Nori Financial, which belongs to my friend Leigh Clayton, Graham & Sibbald, Contract Services, DLA Piper, Cushman & Wakefield, A Surman Building Contractors and GIA Surveyors, which are all companies I work with through my job and which covered my event entry fees, the challenge wouldn’t have been possible.
“I’m indebted to my former coach Quin Beech, of Peak XV Tri Coaching, my current coach Ben Akin, of Tri-Central UK, and to Jo Gore, sports massage therapist at Pro Fit Training. Together, they kept me fit enough to complete the races pretty much injury-free.”
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Yvonne Stott, community and events fundraiser for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, said: “What Matthew has achieved is incredible.
“It’s a massive feat both physically and mentally to take on repeated endurance challenges of this kind one after the other, especially when there’s all the emotion of doing so to honour the memory of recently lost loved ones.
“Matthew also did a lot of work to secure sponsors and supporters, which enabled him to fulfil the challenge he’d set himself and to raise a fantastic donation. We are humbled and very grateful.”
Matthew is planning to do more half and full Ironmans in 2025 with the ambition of reducing his full event time to under 11 hours.
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