Ben Cross, formerly of L Lynch Plant Hire and Haulage, one of our fantastic company supporters, recently participated in a triathlon to raise money for our charity.
After Ben had completed his massive challenge and caught his breath back we had a chance to catch up and hear all about it!
“I chose a triathlon as I wanted to test my mental and physical limits. About 3 years ago I was 21 stone and unhappy. I had only ever done a half ironman before and this event was and ironman plus 10% and the world’s longest. Training with a full time job and a four hour round trip commute was brutal too but added to my drive to test myself to the max.
We all know it’s good to exercise our muscles but we ignore to do this for our brain? But why? I supported the Lighthouse Club because you support others who don’t have anyone to reach out to and nothing is more important in my eyes. Loneliness kills and we must change that.
What was really hard was of the 300 plus athletes on the track ,most were part of a relay team doing the distance, so they all came out fresh and flying past me as a solo athlete, which meant my mind said I was slow and useless when in reality I was doing 4 x the distance, but that is the power of the mind hey, good or bad thoughts get exaggerated lots.
The last two hours I was alone in the dark with just my own thoughts to keep me going. That was a dark place and tears did flow at the finish line when I saw my amazing wife Kelly who tolerated me pausing our marriage while I trained for the event.
Only 14 people who registered got to the start line from over 20. Only 10 finished. I was 8th”.
What a fantastic achievement from Ben who we shall now name Bionic Ben! We’re incredibly grateful to him for all his support and are glad that he was able to complete his challenge not only for us, but for himself too.
