Simon Hare and Colin Newstead (both of whom ended up working for Globalteer in Cambodia) decided they wanted to raise money for Globalteer’s Cambodia Community Projects when they were accepted as volunteers in 2009.
Not being fit enough to run a marathon or brave enough to do a sky-dive they came up with the idea of doing their own version of a triathlon. Or as it turned out, a one-and-a-half-a-thon since they shared the various legs of the challenge. As Colin explained,
“I am not a great swimmer so Simon did the swimming stage, 2,500m in our local pool, with his dad there to make sure he didn’t try to take any short cuts. Then because Simon is basically rubbish at running, I ran 5km on a miserable December morning, while Simon and his mum tailed me in the car making sure that I didn’t take any short cuts either. Finally we teamed up and cycled 10km on a tandem around Dorney Lake – where they held the Olympics rowing events in London 2012.”
Simon & Colin kept sponsors amused in the run up to the event by writing a training blog which helped to grow the number of donations too. In total they raised just under £2,000 ($3,000) which was donated to one of Globalteer’s partner projects in Siem Reap.