Northampton lecturer to take on year of gruelling challenges in memory of his mum who died from cancer

A Northampton lecturer is tackling several gruelling challenges culminating in an Ironman event next year in memory of his mum.

Adam Gregory, a science and engineering lecturer at the University of Northampton International College (Navitas), has embarked on an epic series of endurance events to try and raise £10,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The 32-year-old, who has never run before and also had a full hip replacement five years ago, started out with an ‘easy’ 5k park run.

Since then he’s completed a 31-mile run over the course of a month, a 45-mile bike ride and the Dorney Lake evening triathlon in Buckinghamshire – involving a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run.

However, the dad-of-two plans plenty more even tougher tests over the coming months before taking on his ultimate challenge – the Bolton Ironman 2022 - in July next year.

Adam, who is being helped along with the challenge by his brother Daniel, said: “My brother Daniel has been a bit of an inspiration for this whole challenge.

“He was only 28 when mum died, and I didn’t want my daughters going through the same thing and I want to be around for them as long as possible. So, when we watched the Bolton Ironman, I decided to make a change and said, ‘I can do that!’

“Macmillan were also there for my mum and I was absolutely blown away by the support they gave our family, so I wanted to help make a difference and give something back.

“Since starting this little running adventure I’ve decided to take it to the extreme.

“I’m going to do numerous events, such as running, cycling and swimming throughout the year leading up to a massive finish at Ironman 2022, whilst at the same time raising as much money as possible for Macmillan.”

‘Adam’s long road to Ironman’ is all in memory of his mum Andrea Daubney, who was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in April 2019 and sadly died just over a month later – just two days after Adam’s first daughter Delilah was born.

The grand finale of Adam’s personal challenges over the next year will be to compete in the Bolton Ironman on July 3, 2022 – a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run from Pennington Flash Country Park to Victoria Square – all in under 17 hours.

Rose Tipton, Macmillan fundraising manager, added: “Macmillan is almost entirely funded through donations from our supporters, and we can only be there for people thanks to the fantastic efforts of fundraisers like Adam.

“However, 2020 was one of the toughest years in Macmillan’s 110-year history. The pandemic led to an increased demand for our services and at the same time we experienced a drastic decline in our income.

“Cancer is not going anywhere, and Macmillan is needed now more than ever.

“We are working tirelessly to ensure people with cancer get the vital support they need right now. So any money Adam makes from his fantastic fundraiser will help us make a difference to the lives of people affected by cancer.”

To support Adam’s fundraising efforts visit his JustGiving page here.