Dear Friends and supporters of Cherry Trees,

                                      

There are many words that could describe my feelings and emotions on Saturday evening after I crossed the finish line – exhausted, exhilarated, relieved, happy…a combination of all of these things I suppose! My only real ‘personal’ goal when embarking on this venture back in May was to cross the finish line in one piece, but of course on race day it is hard not to let your competitive edge take over to some degree. The swim and the bike were probably the strongest events for me, and the run – well that was really just a case of hanging on. Out of a total of 260 competitors I finished the race in 75th place overall, in a total time of 12hrs 11 minutes and 46 seconds, and my split times (for those who are interested!) were 1hr 15 mins for the 2.4 mile swim, 6hrs 10 mins for the 112 mile bike, and 4hrs 27 mins for the 26.2 mile run. The Peruvian winner finished in a staggering time of 9 hours and 19 minutes (a 3hr 7 min marathon!!!!!).

More importantly than any of the above, I wanted to let you know that it is not too late to make a donation to Cherry Trees!! Below is the link to my donation webpage, which takes all major credit cards other than Amex I believe. Alternatively you can always send me a check if you have a Sterling account to 440 West 24th Street, Appt 3a, New York, NY 10011 made payable to Cherry Trees (not to me!).

http://www.justgiving.com/peterbrown28

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated so generously. If you take a quick look at my donations page above you will see how incredibly kind everyone has been. I spoke with the fundraising office at Cherry Trees today – they are, quite simply, blown away by how much money has been raised by you all. It is a very small charity but with a large donation like this they are now going to be able to make huge steps forward in the new building work that they have planned.

Finally a big thank you to my loyal support team who came to Florida with me and shouted, screamed, waved banners…you name it…it would have been impossible without you there. Also a big thank you to all my friends and Family in New York, London, Florida and elsewhere for your kind words of support and for all your encouragement over the last few weeks and months – and to my coach Cliff Scherb, who does this crazy sport for a living and is the fittest, most motivated man I have ever met!!

That’s it from me – THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Peter