Celebrating Camloc’s Very Own Ironman

Darren Thrower, our Front-Line Manager, recently took part in the Outlaw Ironman Distance Triathlon. The event took place at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, with over 776 competitors starting with a mass start swim.  

A little background about Ironman competitions 

Ironman is a long-distance triathlon, of which Darren completed under the Outlaw brand company. There are many different companies that organise long-distance triathlons and most triathletes aspire to complete an Ironman distance triathlon, but with cost and, most of all commitment to training, only a small handful manage to accomplish this.  

Darren’s story 

“The 2.4-mile swim was the most daunting and the one discipline where, if I was going to fail, it would be here, with a mass start of over 600 people,” said Darren. “The 112-mile ride was windy but okay, as this is my strong point. Finally, the run of 26.2 miles was the problem one, as around five miles in I got blisters and had to walk, but I was determined to reach that finish line.” 

Darren also used this as a fantastic opportunity to raise money for charity, choosing Tommy’s as his cause. Tommy’s is dedicated to finding causes and treatments to save babies’ lives, as well as providing trusted pregnancy and baby loss information and support. 

“I was pondering on what I could do to raise awareness for Tommy’s, and this seemed like the perfect way to finally do an Ironman and raise awareness for Tommy’s, although even the thought of it was very daunting,” added Darren. 

Although he had started training before Christmas, he wasn’t sure if he was putting in enough, so he had a word with his coach Craig Twigg “who had won the event twice”.  

After a short discussion, Darren enlisted Craig’s services to coach him, and this is when the real training started, with 3:30 am starts, six-hour training rides followed by 2.5-hour runs and 2.5k swim sessions, all of which added to more than 20 hours a week. 

“When I first thought of doing this, I pictured walking down the finish line with my daughter with Tommy’s tops on, and it could not have been more perfect,” said Darren. 

Everyone at Camloc couldn’t be prouder of Darren, well done on such an amazing physical achievement as well as raising funds for such an important cause. 

For anyone who would like to donate retrospectively, here is the link to the Just Giving page that Darren’s daughter set up. 

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