A DETERMINED man has raised thousands of pounds for Malmesbury’s foodbank by doing a gruelling triathlon in his back garden.

Richard Groome, 46, successfully completed the Ironman triathlon in just over 14 hours on Sunday, raising more than £3,200 for the foodbank via sponsorship.

The regional sales manager for Armis Security, who lives in Lea, swam 2.4 miles in his pool, rode 112 miles on a Wattbike and ran 26.2 miles around his garden.

Richard said he had wanted to help the foodbank during the lockdown but couldn’t volunteer a lot of his time due to working from home.

So he decided to take on the challenge after hearing about other fundraisers where people completed marathons in their garden.

To take on the challenge, Richard bought a paddling pool and a tether, before mapping out a lap in his garden.

Richard said: “The start was ok, although the swim was very different to a normal ironman triathlon where you swim in a lake or a pool. I spent over an hour swimming whilst tethered to the pool, not going anywhere.”

Richard then spent five-and-a-half hours cycling on a Wattbike set up in his garden, where friends joined him virtually to cheer him on.

However, after the cycle, which saw Richard burn 4,000 calories in the sun, he felt ‘terrible’ and ‘physically sick’. After a sit down and some anti-sickness tablets, Richard was finally ready to tackle the last part of the challenge.

Richard said: “I ended up completing 420 laps of my garden, which worked out at around 3,000 turns. I had a lap clicker and I just didn’t feel like I was making any real progress. That was really challenging, the laps just didn’t seem to be getting any quicker.”

After 14-and-a-half hours, Richard completed his last lap and the ironman triathlon.

“It was a relief to finish,” he said. “My partner, stepson and neighbours cheered me on as I crossed the line. They couldn’t see me as it was dark but it was lovely.”

All the money raised by the mammoth challenge will go to Malmesbury and District Foodbank.

Dick Gray, a trustee at Malmesbury and District Foodbank said: “The Malmesbury and District Foodbank is seeing an increase in the number of people needing our support and we have had to change our method of working in the current situation. In the interests of social distancing, we are no longer accepting people visiting the Foodbank with their Red Vouchers to get a food parcel.

“When they ask a referrer for a voucher, the referrer will now send that voucher to the Foodbank for processing. We only have one volunteer at a time working in the foodbank (plus a family member) and they are assembling food parcels which are then delivered to the families in the afternoon. We are also providing fresh food to our clients; we are working with the Gloucester Road Co-op to put together fresh food parcels which are then delivered by the Co-op.

“Food donations are still coming in via our normal collections points and we are also getting support from supermarkets, but we foresee that as the crisis continues we expect to be purchasing food to be able to continue supporting those who are struggling to put food on the table.

“The donations that Richard’s Ironman Triathlon has raised will go towards purchasing the fresh food that is provided to clients.

"The donations that the event has raised now represents the largest private donation that the foodbank has received and were are extremely grateful to Richard for choosing us as his charity."

Donate at gofundme.com/f/gardenironman.