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my chair. My prosthetic limbs were very heavy and uncomfortable to wear; they seemed to hold me back and at times get in the way.

      I made the decision to spend time in my wheelchair and get on with life. I had missed out on so much, and there was so much I wanted to do, and I was going to do the lot. I said that every year I would take on a different challenge to raise money for charity. My first challenge was a sky dive to raise money for Cancer Research. I learned to DJ and raised lots of money for different charities.

      In 2004, I was given the ultimate challenge. I was asked to take part in the London Marathon with my best friend. I rose to the challenge and in April 2004 I completed the London Marathon in my day chair, not a race chair, just my simple everyday chair. My hands were blistered like never before, what kept me going was we had raised thousands of pounds for different charities: Sense (deaf and blind people) Cancer Research, Lindsey Lodge Hospice and St Oswald’s Church in Crowle.

      In June 2004, I was one of 150 people selected to carry the Olympic torch in London on its way to the Olympic Games in Athens. The Olympic Torch was in London for the first time since 1948. ‘Pass the flame, unite the world’ was the theme of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The Olympic Games touches millions of people, irrespective of age, gender, race or religion. They represent the greatest sporting spectacle in the world and for thousands of Olympians the games are the highlight of their sporting career, the culmination of years of training and the fulfilment of their childhood dreams. To be part of the Olympic torch relay was amazing, one day I will treasure for the rest of my life.

      I enjoyed taking part in the marathon so much that in September 2004 I completed the Great North Run, and I raised money for Get Kids Going, a charity that helps disabled children.

      Then I set myself the biggest challenge of all for the year 2005. I was to hand-cycle 500km over Vietnam and Cambodia. You can read the story of that trip below.

      As you can tell from my story, I have turned my life around. Having a disability makes me no different from anyone else. I have a very active life and keeping fit is a massive part of it. I have achieved so much over the last few years; it’s taken a lot of hard work, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. I find it very relaxing working out. It seems to de-stress me a great deal, and after everything I am looking after myself.

      My work out with my medicine ball

       I do a lot of my workout with a medicine ball. There is so much you can do with them, they are great.

       I do the following, but am always sure to warm up and stretch first.

      Press-ups, Sit-ups, Crunches, Plank, Throws, Back raise, Squats, Side raise

      Being a wheelchair user, I find it so hard to keep my weight down, you have to exercise and eat well. You will soon see a difference when you start training and eating well. You will be full of energy, and you will want to train every day. Believe me, it’s an amazing feeling getting fit, you never know one day you may be lining up to compete in the London Marathon or Great North Run. I have gone from strength to strength since taking up training and I now train five days a week. I have never felt so strong and healthy.

      Solitary Fitness has helped me gain confidence and better health, and the workouts have increased my stamina and mobility. I have achieved so much since picking up Solitary Fitness. It is an incredible read. Charlie has helped me so much the last few years; he has given me the confidence to attempt challenges. The advice and encouragement he has given me is brilliant; I can’t wait one day to have a workout with Charlie in my kitchen. www.alanrayment.co.uk

      VIETNAM & CAMBODIA CYCLE CHALLENGE, NOVEMBER 2005

      My good friend Tony Simpson called me and asked if I would take on a massive challenge, one that would push me to the limits. I listened to what he had to say. He asked if I would consider cycling 500km over Vietnam and Cambodia to raise money for a charity called Whizz-kidz, a charity that helps change the lives of many disabled children in the UK. I told Tony to send me the details.

      I received the itinerary on what the challenge had to offer and it sounded amazing. I sent back my application form with the deposit to book me on the trip, which was to take place in November 2005. Tony had also booked on the trip. We decided to call the event ‘The Asda Challenge’ as both Tony and I worked for Asda. We wanted to get a team together so we advertised internally at Asda to get more people interested. We managed to get a team of eight of us from Asda and we were looking to raise at least £3,500 each.

      One of the first things I had to do was find a hand-cycle and, after a lot of looking around, I finally purchased one from Da Vinci in Liverpool. I received the cycle in April 2005 and I started cycling the first day I got it, as I knew I had a lot of hard work to do. I entered some races to get used to the chair and in total I completed 13 10k races and half-marathons on the run-up to me going out to Vietnam. I raised money for different charities when I entered the races.

      I had a lot of hard work to do in 2005; I had to get fit for the challenge and I had to raise the money to go over to Vietnam. I started training at The Fitness Suite at North Lindsey College in Scunthorpe. The guys down there were great. I did a lot of cardiovascular work and a lot of stamina work; I was training sometimes four to five days a week, which also included swimming and out cycling in my chair. I was finding it hard to fit all my training in, as I also had to work 41 hours a week at Scunthorpe Hospital and at Asda.

      In terms of sponsorship, I received a lot of support from local businesses and charities, and I received some tremendous support from work colleagues. Asda Scunthorpe helped me raise a lot of my money – we held lots of different events in store – and Asda UK also helped our team a great deal with all there fundraising.

      The year had flown past and 3 November was nearly upon us. I didn’t really know what to expect out in Vietnam but I was looking forward to the challenge.

      When the time came, we went down to London and had breakfast on the Thursday morning before checking in at Heathrow at 9.30am for a midday departure to Thailand. There were a total of 22 of us taking part in the challenge, and it was great to meet up with everyone who was raising money for different charities. We had a long journey ahead of us, a 12-hour flight to Bangkok, and then we transferred to Saigon, before finally arriving Friday lunchtime. To say the least, I needed some sleep. After a few hours’ resting, we had our briefing with the two tour guides Chi and Phat, who were going to lead us through Vietnam, and they told us what to expect over the next four days. The following day we had to be up and ready to start cycling at 8am. We were going to cycle 52k from Saigon towards the Mekong Delta River.

      On the first day of cycling from Saigon, we were hit by a monsoon. Talk about crazy weather. The terrain was challenging as we cycled down the gateway to the Mekong Delta River and then crossed it by ferry into the jungle. As we cycled past fields of sugar cane and banana plantations, the scenery was spectacular. When we got through the jungle I looked like I had been in mud bath, I was so covered in dirt. It was so wet, if I had stopped my chair in the jungle, I don’t think I would have got going again.

      In Vietnam we saw the most remote and poor parts of the country. Visiting villages while we stopped for lunch, the locals were amazed to see me; our tour guide told me they were shouting ‘amazing strong man’ to me. Our journey through Vietnam was spectacular and I have many, many stories to tell. The weather played a massive part. It was so hot that the top half of my body was covered in heat rash and blisters, and all I could do was try and block the pain out.

      On our final stage in Vietnam it started to rain and it cooled me down so much. It was great, but it didn’t make what was in front of us any easier. We had to climb five miles up a mountain, the roads were very wet and the front of my cycle started to slip as I climbed up. The mountain seemed to go on and on and, when I was about two miles from the top, I had to stop to put my cycle into the lowest gear I had. Two of my team were encouraging me and, with a lot of hard work, I made it to the top. As I sat on the top and looked back down, I was amazed at what I had just achieved, but the best was to come. As they say, what goes up must come down! The drop on the other side was unbelievable – as I got halfway down I was doing

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