Dave completes 13-hour 'Iron Man' endurance challenge to help college funds

Dave, aged 51, an educational support worker at the college, took part in the Ironman Triathlon in Dorset and Cornwall raising over 1,000 for the college’s link department, which works with students who have other needs as well as hearing difficulties.

The event started at six in the morning with a 2.4-mile swim in a lake, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and then finally a full-length marathon race to the finish.

It took Dave one hour and 14 minutes to complete the swim, seven hours to finish the bike ride, and over four hours to finish the marathon.

His final finishing time was 13 hours and eight minutes.

He said: “It was very, very difficult. The weather was really windy, extremely cold and the course very hilly - the swim was the only flat part.

“It was an amazing sense of achievement to finish the course, and in a decent time. There were more than 1,500 competitors, and it was a horrendous slog, but it was a great feeling to finish because it is a fantastic event.