Tony marks 60th with six in six events

TRIATHLON GRAEME COURTNEY ROSSENDALE triathlon club member Tony Gretton wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday by doing something special.

Now most people would go out for a nice meal and a few drinks, or go away for the weekend but not Tony, instead he opted to complete six endurance events over six consecutive weekends!

As well as marking the milestone Tony wanted to raise money for charity and his three chosen charities were British Heart Foundation, Christies Hospital and the National Kidney Federation.

Tony knew this was going to be tough so began his training in the cold, dark months of January by building the miles up on the bike, he followed this up in February by doing a 10km road race in Blackburn and the Liverpool half marathon in April.

For all the training the date of the first event was soon upon him and on the 20th May Tony completed the St Annes Sprint triathlon, which is a 400 metre pool swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. Tony set a personal best time and finished 6th in his age group, a fantastic start.

Next up was the Rossendale Sprint triathlon, Tony’s home race. Another brilliant performance saw Tony finish third in his age group with another personal best time around this course.

There was no swimming or running involved the following week ONLY a 45 mile bike ride around the Fylde coast, so fairly flat compared to the Rossendale Valley! However, this week was just the warm up to what was to come the following week.

On the 10th June Tony and his older brother took part in a 80 mile sportive cycle ride which started in Chester and took them through some spectacular North Wales scenery.

The route included two serious climbs, one of them being the Horseshoe Pass.

This was the first time Tony had ridden further than 60 miles so his body was starting to ache towards the end as he continued to push himself. However, just three days later on Wednesday 13th June Tony turned 60 and decided what better way to celebrate than swimming two miles in open water!

All the training and all the preceding events had been building up to his final challenge, a half ironman distance triathlon.

This would involve a 1.25 mile open water swim, a 60 mile bike ride and a 13 mile run to finish. Tony chose the beautiful setting of Cholmondeley Castle near Whitchurch, Cheshire to complete his final challenge so a very early start of 4:15 am was required.

At 8am Tony and another 179 competitors lined up ready for the off, the hooter sounded and the start of Tony’s most grueling sporting event to date commenced.

Although the swim and run passed without incident the previous five weeks were now starting to take their toll and towards the end of the run Tony began to suffer severe cramp in his legs which reduced him to walking.

During all the previous events Tony had received marvelous support from his family and friends and just at the right time as he began to falter his daughter and granddaughter appeared “Come on, you can do it”

The cramps began to ease and Tony ran the last few yards side by side with his grand-daughter to cross the line to the cheers of the crowd.

Tony’s 6 in 6 challenge was announced over the loudspeakers and rightly so he received an extra cheer and round of applause.

Tony added: “I hope my story inspires others to go out there and do something.

“We cannot solve all the terrible illnesses but we need to keep trying and it’s the support I received from sponsors which can make it happen, every single penny really does count.”

Tony has raised a fantastic amount of money so far for his three chosen charities but if you’d still like to donate please visit -http://uk. virginmoneygiving.com/ TonyGretton