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Later this year a team of six optometrists and dispensing opticians will take part in the gruelling Alpe D'Huez triathlon in aid of Vision Aid Overseas.
The charity effort has been given a great start with a £1,900 contribution from the casino at the Optician Awards and a £500 donation from Essilor. BBGR has supplied each team member with a racesuit and Transitions has supplied cycling jackets.
The Alpe comes midway through the triathlon which comprises a 2.2km swim in the chilly waters of Lac du Verney. The event is rounded off with a 21.9k run.
This year's Optician team are a mixture of seasoned triathletes and newcomers to the sport but all will need to put in many hours of dedicated training to survive the Alpe and reach their goal.
Ferguson
Lyndon Ferguson is a 33-year-old optometrist living is Surrey. He splits his work time between Optometry London, London, and Horrocks and Boyd, Kingston-upon-Thames. Ferguson has always been involved in sport and at school competed in track and field, cricket and rugby at quite a high level. He started getting back into triathlon a few years ago. Ferguson maintains his fitness by regularly cycling 110 miles each week to and from work. He adds in a longer ride about once a fortnight. He also does two swim sessions per week and three to four running sessions, with at least one long run of 14 miles. In preparation for the Alpe he plans to compete in triathlons at Windsor and in the Lake District.
Ferguson's first love is cycling, so he hopes to put in good performance on the ride up Alpe D'Huez. He likes triathlon because it introduces variety and helps keep the beer belly in check.
He says his biggest fear is finding the time to train while keeping up family and work commitments. In an effort to succeed he has changed his diet quite a bit to lose the pounds required to climb mountains.
'I've started avoiding any food with refined sugar in it. This requires a lot of will power as I have a sweet tooth.' Giving up chocolate is going to be hard, he says.
Ferguson has found family and friends very supportive, although some think the course is too easy. He is hoping they, and Optician readers, will make his efforts worthwhile by sponsoring the team.
'I will give 100 per cent and Vision Aid Overseas will profit from my pain.'
He also has a finish time in mind but 'fear of failure stops me from writing it down'.
Maycock
Nigel Maycock, is a 37-year-old optometrist originally from Cornwall but now living and working in Guildford. After nine years of high street optometry he switched three years ago to refractive surgery working for Ultralase.
This year he fulfilled a childhood ambition by competing his first London Marathon in 3hr 30. This was a real achievement as he planned to run the race in 1996, but had to pull out when he was unable to build up to running the required distances without getting injured.
Maycock says that with a young family and full time job the biggest challenge at the moment is finding the time to do sufficient training, especially on the bike. 'Thankfully my toddler daughter enjoys riding in her seat on the back of my bike up and down the Surrey hills. My biggest fears relating to this event are tackling the swim in cold mountain water and failing to cycle up the mountain.' To help with training, Maycock has tried to give up his chocolate bar habit with some success and beer with no success at all.
He urges readers to donate to VAO: 'Two years ago I spent a busy and inspirational week doing volunteer work in Uganda which showed me the immense difference that groups such as VAO make to people's lives in developing countries.' He hasn't targeted a particular time to complete this event. 'I'll be happy just to make it to the finish line alive.'
Bennett
Chris Bennett is the editor and associate publisher of Optician.
The 47-year-old father of three has edited Optician since 2000.
After completing an Ironman as part of an Optician team, Bennett says his main goal is to enjoy the challenge. 'I have always wanted to complete a classic Tour de France route and it doesn't get better than the Alpe.'
The most important element has got to be raising money for Vision Aid Overseas, says Bennett. 'Charities are hit particularly hard during tough economic times so it's more important than ever to give reasons to people to provide support, log onto http://www.justgiving.com/OpticianTriathlonTeam.'
Bennett has no idea how long the event is likely to take but given it's like a supercharged half Ironman it is going to be well over six hours. 'With Alpe D'Huez to cycle over who knows.'
Molloy
Fee Molloy is a 37-year-old locum optometrist from Hampshire. Her career started in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as an aircraft technician. She then switched to monitoring and repairing video walls and project engineering in medical devices prior to becoming an optometrist. She hopes that the Alpe D'Huez triathlon project will help her lose some weight, especially important for Alpe climbs, and keep those chocolate cravings at bay.
She currently has a knee and shoulder injury she is hoping to shake off. 'I need to "man up" and get on with it,' she says.
Her sporting background is impressive with a national league hockey team cap and county hockey, basketball and netball places to her name.
Injuries aside she says her biggest fear is not losing enough weight to climb the mountains in France and tackling the heat going up versus the cold going down. To help her on her way she is sacrificing comfort food and free time.
She is hoping that readers and sponsors will help support the team with donations to VAO as this is her incentive to put in the effort to compete. 'This is probably the toughest half Ironman distance event I have done,' she says. Despite her impressive sporting record she isn't predicting a time but just wants to finish. 'Getting over injury niggles and more pain is my biggest motivator so please don't give up on me now.'
Eastwood
Dispensing optician James Eastwood is 38 and hails from the Bristol area. He originally undertook officer training at Sandhurst but switched to optics and qualified as a DO at Bradford through the day-release course. He worked for a year in New Zealand before returning to the UK to work in practice. He recently became a locum dispensing optician to enable him to continue coaching triathlon.
His coaching background gives him a good understanding of the event. His goal is a solid finish and not having to walk on the climb to Alpe D'Huez. Despite his current sporting credentials, he says he hated sport at school and only took up triathlon in 1989. He progressed rapidly, making the GB duathlon team in 1994 and he has completed triathlons at all distances including Ironman since then. Eastwood also took part in the Optician team that tackled the UK Ironman 70.3 in 2008 and proved a valuable source of sporting advice and help for the other team members.
Eastwood's biggest fear is tackling the alpine slopes. He says alpine ascents aren't really the best place for a 6ft 3 triathlete, so the long climbs and the half marathon at altitude will be a challenge. To give himself the best chance he will be foregoing soft drinks and snacks as part of his training regime.
His fellow triathlon club members are keen to see if he can 'do' as well as coach while he says his family and friends, 'think I'm mad, possibly thinking I'll get over it soon'.
Eastwood is hoping he can drum up sponsorships because the team is supporting a great cause. His plea to Optician readers is: 'We have chosen the hardest triathlon of its kind, certainly in Europe if not the world, to provide the challenge. Please support our endeavours and make the pain worth it by helping VAO and sponsor us.'
As a coach he understands the challenge and is paying it plenty of respect. He isn't setting any targets for a finish time merely saying: 'While the finish line is still open will do fine.'
Evans
Lisa Evans is a 40-year-old optometrist living and working in South Wales. She recently set up her own business called Home Eye Care Wales which provides domiciliary eye examinations and low vision assessments. 'I love it and feel quite passionate about the low vision aspect.' Evans qualified in 1992 from Aston University and previously worked at Specsavers Caerphilly as a locum and Arbuthnot Opticians in Barry.
Her early sporting background is impressive. She swam competitively until she was 13 and then took up running.
As with most of the team, not completing the mountainous cycle is her number one fear. Having her own business and a family means time is her biggest problem. She has already given up watching TV but says she doesn't miss it at all.
She's had great support from friends and family. 'Those who are into sport appreciate the enormity of the challenge. My husband and parents think it's a fantastic challenge.'
She urges readers to sponsor the team: 'Triathlons require a special level of fitness, which people appreciate. The commitment is massive especially when people look at the course.'
She's hasn't set any deadline for a finish time - it all boils down to the bike. 'I'm not at all concerned about the swim and run, just getting up that mountain! Ouch!' ?