Luke Whitcher's Ironman Challenge

WHEN: 28 MARCH 2010 -  OR THE 'DAY OF PAIN'!
WHAT: AUSTRALIAN IRONMAN CHALLENGE
DETAILS: 226KM - 3.8K SWIM, 180K CYCLE & 42.2K RUN
TIME LIMIT: 17 HOURS

Thanks to everyone who donated.  I've also received $1,326 in offline donations.

*******************UPDATE - ONE WEEK AND COUNTING ************************

Well it’s less than a week until the ‘Day of Pain’.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported me so far. The support and all the encouraging words mean so much. I’ll be doing all I can to make it to the end – even if I have to crawl on hands and knees!

The training’s been … interesting. I’ve been attacked by a kangaroo, had a close encounter with a spider, and some near miss collisions. The practice triathlons have been an adventure too.  My wetsuit split doing the Kurnell Sprint Tri and I got punched in the eye swimming at Huskisson.  But I’m feeling prepared, or as prepared as I’ll ever be.

And knowing that it’ll make a difference to my beautiful boy Joshua and his classmates makes it all worthwhile.

So I'm going to take part in the Ironman Challenge... and It makes me feel queasy just thinking about it (especially as I only qualified with 9 mins to spare in the half-ironman last year). I know how tough the hills are & how hard it will be. So why am I doing this?
 
It’s easy to imagine this type of pain – short of breath, tired arms, aching legs. But it’s only 1 day... which is insignificant compared with what children & their carers suffer at the hands of a debilitating mental disability like autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE...
 
Imagine being at a foreign airport. You don’t know how to speak the language. People try to communicate. They show you pictures & sign with their hands. The P.A. is like a radio not quite in tune. Just some of the symptoms experienced by people with ASD. Families are the ones waving the signs. Sometimes they break through & sometimes they fail.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

I know this first hand. My beautiful boy Joshua has a moderate to severe form of ASD. He’s a wonderful charismatic little fella (& loves the ladies). He’s 8, learning to parrot talk and can climb better than anyone I know. He has a wonderful talent for drawing.

Thanks to the amazing people around him, we have learnt to gain short entries to his little world and we are making improvements all the time. But without the help of autism specific schools such as Aspect South East Sydney School, we would have to take the full brunt of living with this condition. 

I am raising money for Aspect's SES school.  Its a way of saying thank you and will support them with crucial resources to help the kids learn and reach their full potential. 

PLEASE HELP TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH A DONATION, BIG OR SMALL -  JUST CLICK ON DONATE NOW.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT