Posted: August 10, 2004

Triathlon: Terminally ill charity champion returns to Gatorade Half IRONMAN UK Triathlon

Jane Tomlinson returns to the toughest event on the planet as one of her last ever sporting attempts

Extraordinary charity fundraiser Jane Tomlinson is set to return to the 2004 Gatorade Half Ironman UK Triathlon to once again make sporting history… as the first terminally ill competitor to enter her second event in the gruelling world of IRONMAN Triathlon.

Mother-of-3, Jane, whose fundraising achievements were recognised by the Queen with a birthday honours list MBE, is the surprise name among the 1750 super-athletes taking part in the 2004 Gatorade Half Ironman UK Triathlon at historic Sherborne Castle, Dorset on August 22nd.

Jane, 40, who has been living with a terminal diagnosis since 2000 when her breast cancer returned after a ten year respite, admits that it’s the toughest challenge she’s ever undertaken in her remarkable fundraising campaign. This has seen her compete in leading UK marathons, a tandem cycle ride the length of Britain from John O’Groats to Land’s End and an epic tandem cycle ride from ‘Rome to Home’.

Jane, who is hoping to push her fundraising target beyond £800,000 this year as she pushes her cancer-stricken body through the intense pain barrier of an event billed ‘the single hardest day in sport’, comments: “I enjoyed the Ironman triathlon last year and never for one moment through I would be able to tackle the course again this year.”

She continues: “After the ‘Rome to Home’ cycle ride I thought that would be it, but I couldn’t resist the chance to compete in a final few events before I hang up my trainers and bike shoes. The Half Ironman in 2003 was a real challenge and it is definitely an event I have had in my mind to return to this year.”

But Jane, who still works as a paediatric radiographer in her native Leeds, had avoided going public about her most daunting effort yet, until she’d embarked on a rigorous training regimen to prove to herself she was physically and mentally up to taking part.

The 2004 Gatorade Half IRONMAN UK Triathlon will see Jane start at 7.20am with a swim of 1.2 miles, immediately followed by a 56-mile bike race and a 13.1 mile half-marathon, in a true test of body, mind and spirit that can prove too tough for many a superfit athlete…let alone a working mum dying from secondary cancer affecting her shoulder, hip, leg and four spinal bones down to her pelvic joint.

The 2004 Gatorade Half IRONMAN UK Triathlon is the only British qualifying event for the IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii, with athletes from both the 2003 and 2004 event qualifying for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October.

Gatorade Half Ironman UK Triathlon Race Director, Ron Thorne, comments: “The Gatorade Half Ironman UK Triathlon welcomes back one of the inspiring stories from 2003 in Jane Tomlinson, and we will all be thinking of her during the 70-mile endurance triathlon. Although Jane has had a tough year with the ‘Rome to Home’ cycle ride and many other events, the Half Ironman will push Jane to the limit of her endurance. I’m sure with her guts and dogged determination she will complete the course and claim another Finisher’s T-shirt.”

John Shanley, Chief Executive for SPARKS (Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids), one of Jane’s key chosen charities, said: “Jane is probably the most inspirational woman in Britain today. Apart from her remarkable sporting achievements, it’s humbling to think she’s still working for the NHS as a paediatric radiographer, a career that gives her an insight into the kind of groundbreaking medical research SPARKS funds for babies and children, while undergoing debilitating medical treatment herself, training intensely for an event like the Half Ironman and raising her young family. All of us who know Jane can only marvel at her energy, her passion and her sheer determination”