I finished the London Triathlon in just over 2 1/2 hours

Two and half years ago, I decided it would be really good fun to get into triathlons. I was starting from scratch so I knew the journey ahead might be a tad painful. To give an idea of my how bad I was; I could barely swim five lengths of a swimming pool, I could just about run 2k before collapsing and cycling beyond a few miles used to hurt like hell. To add to this, I used to suffer from Tachycardia and Atrial Fibrillation (AF).

I entered the Blenheim Sprint Tri in 2007 and almost had to retire due to suffering a bad attack of AF on each discipline. To overcome this I have had to go through two separate heart ops (ablations) resulting in the more serious condition, AF, getting fixed. The Tachycardia can be managed with drugs.

Much training and a few sprints later saw me enter the London Tri Olympic distance held at the Excel in East London. The London Tri is the biggest event of its kind in the world attracting many famous people including the likes of Jenson Button who this year, incidentally, recorded his best ever time at 2 hours and 7 minutes.

My Tri started with a swim briefing where you shout out a lot of oggy oggy oggys and give lots of blokes you have never met bear hugs and slaps on the back. You then enter the docks and prepare yourself for the off. The horn sounded at 2.40PM and I was off. The swim stage was packed and I must have been punched in the face at least 30 times but, saying that, I must have handed out the same along with swimming over about 20 competitors - you have to remember it's war out there! 1500 metres and 30 minutes later, I was climbing out and removing the wet suit and goggles as fast as I could. There was about a 400 metre run to the bike transition area where you dump all your swimming gear and grab your bike off the rack and then run about 800 metres to the cycle course. I then gunned it as fast as I could for 40 KMs averaging about 36KM per hour meaning I came in at just over an hour. I jumped off the bike and ran into transition where you re-rack the bike and throw on your running shoes. 10KMs later and another 50 minutes I crossed the finishing line - the sense of euphoria was overwhelming and I have to admit I felt like crying. Luckily for me I held it together and gave my finishing medal a very big kiss instead.

Sitting here writing this I can say my life has been improved immensely by the whole experience. If I hadn't have embarked on the journey I would still suffer from AF which can be life shortening. I've met some great people along the way and can honestly say that I have never felt so good in my whole life - sounds incredibly cheesy but it's true. I have young kids and I now feel very confident that I will be able to keep up with them for the next few years and won't embarrass them too much at sports days when the parents have to race each other.

Rob Hunter