Who Is Tom?
Tom joined the Team Grit athlete squad three weeks ago when he reached out to us to prepare for his upcoming Ultra in Scotland. The more we found out about Tom, the more we were in awe and completely inspired by the challenges he has already completed and the epic ‘Endure 4’ that he has set himself. Read on to find out about Tom’s why and the challenge he’s taking on and don’t forget to go and donate to support him and his amazing cause here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thomas-nicholas3
The road to Endure 4
I’ve always envied those who were athletic in school, those who competed in sports because I was never that way inclined. When I left school I had the freedom to exercise a bit more and decided I wanted to do a charity fundraiser. My late grandfather had just been ill and required the Wales Air Ambulance to take him to the hospital due to his rural location in West Wales. It wasn’t until the air ambulance saved him that we realised the air ambulance runs solely on donations and receives no funding from the government. In 2013 before I went to university I did a charity bike ride from Bristol to Cardiff and raised over £1000 for the service!
Cycling all the way from Bristol to Cardiff.
In another turn of events, my granddad required the air ambulance once again and I knew I wanted to do more. In 2018 I set out to do a number of events including 4 Tough Mudder events, a 10k and 2 half marathons, this time raising over £2,000! However, again I wanted to do more, I still had an itch to do events not just for fun and other personal reasons but to help raise money for a service that saved my granddad’s life twice…
One event left to go on my 2018 fundraiser.
I’ve always wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, I love Africa, and both of my uncles have completed the hike when I was much younger. This has been a dream of mine since I was roughly 10. In the same breathe for as long as I can remember I’ve dreamt about becoming an Ironman and taking on the 140.6 miles (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle, and 26.2-mile run), this is the ultimate test and I’ve wanted to as long as I can remember to do one and become part of the elite community. Those who know me will also know I love Tough Mudder and what it means to me, I am a Tough Mudder ambassador and have done 25+ full Tough Mudder’s in 6 years. The pinnacle of the Tough Mudder calendar is Worlds Toughest Mudder, taking on a 5-mile course, to complete as many laps as possible in 24 hours! And finally, the Spartan Ultra, I’ve recently started doing Spartan events, having dipped my toe in I developed a love-hate relationship with it, I hated doing them, but I loved the feeling after I had crossed the finish line! In 2019 I flippantly took on the Ultra (30+ miles, 60+ obstacles) and unfortunately I was unsuccessful and had a DNF (did not finish).
So when reflecting on how I could raise more money for the air ambulance, who, without their service, we would not have had those final few years with my late grandfather, I came up with 4 events that would test me in all ways.
1. Climbing Kilimanjaro
2. Spartan Scotland Ultra
3. World’s Toughest Mudder
4. Ironman Wales
I took these four, big endurance challenges, from travelling 140.6 miles in one day across 3 disciplines to tackling 30 miles of horrendous terrain carrying 50+ kg of buckets, stones, chains, to doing as many laps as possible in 24 hours, to hiking the tallest free-standing mountain in Africa and created Endure 4! These are big bucket (no pun intended) list challenges; will test every ounce of my strength, endurance, and mental grit possible!
And to top everything off, I was very privileged and fortunate to be successful in getting a place for London Marathon 2021! This comes thick and fast after the Spartan Ultra (1 week) every ounce of my recovery and muscles will be tested to be able to complete the 26.2 miles 7 days after 30+ miles of brutal terrain and elevation.
Therefore, putting these events together I will have run, hiked, cycled, swam, crawled, carried and clambered over 280 Endure miles (including LDN Marathon) and hundreds more of warm-up and training events including Tough Mudders, Spartan Races, Triathlons, Half Marathons etc!
This is the story that has led me to Endure 4 and my passion for raising money for Wales Air Ambulance. As the Spartan Ultra is my first event (fast approaching as only 4 weeks away) and this is the only race I’ve done that I’ve not been able to finish, I needed something to change. I enlisted the help of Team Grit, who not only will help with the Ultra but will also help with my training for my other events as well! I’ve been with them 3 weeks and can already see an improvement in my training!
The countdown is on!
Connect With Tom
Give Tom a follow on Instagram to watch his journey at @mrtomnicholas
You can also keep up to speed with Tom’s journey (and go make a donation) over on Tom’s Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thomas-nicholas3
Finally - go check out the article about Tom that the Wales Ambulance page wrote to read even more about this epic journey - https://www.walesairambulance.com/news/tom-will-tackle-four-huge-challenges-in-aid-of-the-wales-air-ambulance