Story

Story

Freddie and Adam from DESS College are taking on the biggest physical challenge of our lives IRONMAN Tallinn to raise money for the incredible work of The Sparkle Foundation.

Neither of us has ever done anything remotely like this before.

Over the coming months, we’ll be training for at least 12 hours every single week, balancing early mornings, long weekends, sore legs, and plenty of moments where we’ll question why we signed up in the first place!

And then comes race day, IRONMAN Tallinn on the 22nd August.

An IRONMAN is one of the toughest endurance events in the world. In a single day, we’ll need to complete:

- 3.8km swim (2.4 miles)

- 180km bike ride (112 miles)

- 42.2km marathon run (26.2 miles)

That’s a total of 226km (140.6 miles) - all completed back-to-back, with a cut-off time of 17 hours.

To put that into perspective:

-The swim is the equivalent of around 150 lengths of a 25m pool.

-The bike ride is roughly the distance from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and back again.

-And after all of that… there’s still a full marathon to run.

We’re doing this because while this will be incredibly difficult for us, it pales in comparison to the daily challenges faced by many families in Malawi.

The Sparkle Foundation works in one of the world’s poorest countries to break the cycle of poverty through education, nutrition, healthcare, and community support.

Sparkle work includes:

- Providing children with access to quality education

- Delivering daily nutritious meals

- Supporting maternal healthcare and child wellbeing

- Creating sustainable opportunities for families and communities to thrive long-term

Sparkle’s mission is simple but powerful: helping children not just survive, but truly flourish.

Every donation will help them continue this life-changing work, whether that’s funding meals, education resources, healthcare support, or wider community programmes.

We know times are tough, and we’re hugely grateful for any support, no matter how big or small. Every contribution will help push us through the hardest training sessions and toughest moments on race day.

Thank you so much for supporting us, IRONMAN Tallinn, and most importantly, The Sparkle Foundation.

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