So what's Team Atko all about then?

On the evening of Ian's funeral (which involved a lot of friends, family, beer and fireworks), I decided that to work through what had happened to Ian and to make good things come from the terrible fact that my best man isn't with us anymore, I decided that I needed to do something.  Something Ian-like. 

He wasn't one for dancing around his hand bag when he decided to do something, so it needed to be big.  Ian would have said "Go big, or go home".

It has been 10 years since I have done any form of physical exercise, I am 32, I need to loose weight (the combined weight of my two sons at that time actually) and I look a sorry state in a running vest (think "I want that one" or "Yeah, I know").  I have tried to get fit before but have given up due to lack of interest.  I came to the conclusion that the threat of public humiliation might just be enough to focus the mind this time around.

I decided there and then to enter the BUPA Great North Run in Newcastle, on 5th October 2008.  I live a mile from the start with my wife Rachael and our two boys Tom and Ollie, and you don't get much more convenient than that.  I asked Roger Atkinson, Ian's father and a runner, if he would enter with me.  He agreed, there and then, and I couldn't possibly let him down by not pitching up. (That's the risk of public humiliation to focus the mind bit.)

Word quickly went around the bar and more and more people wanted to join us in the race. We now find ourselves as Team Atko - a team of 22 friends including Ian's wife, Donna, I'm pleased to say, and of course Roger.  This blog will follow our training and fund raising, and all the team members will post whatever they like on here, as often as they like.  It will be our HQ, and who knows what direction it will take!

It is a massive undertaking for most of us.  I went for my first training run a few days after Ian's funeral, around the places where I remember him best, near his parents home by Long Beach in Grouville, Jersey. I decided to not push things too much. I planned to run for 15 minutes then turn around and come back.  Five minutes later I had stopped.  I remained stopped for quite some time.

We want to raise £10,000 for the RNLI St Helier lifeboat appeal.  Ian was a Channel Island windsurfing medal winner and team captain in the Island Games, president of JAWS (the Jersey Association of Windsurfers) and spent many years instructing windsurfing in Jersey.  We want to celebrate his life and the things that Ian was passionate about and this run falls almost a year after he died.  The RNLI is the charity that is the most appropriate and we hope that you will follow our progress via this blog as often as you can, and ideally we want your money! In fact we need your money. 

You can sponsor us at www.justgiving.com/team_atko and the money goes directly to the RNLI  St Helier Lifeboat Appeal - what could be simpler?

Tim