Man to take on ironman test in friend’s memory

A MAN from Henley will take on an ironman challenge in memory of a teenager who died in a car crash last year.

Jack Trailor-Thompson, 26, will embark on a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26-mile run in Calella, near Barcelona, on Sunday in memory of Sammy Phillips.

He died in February last year aged 19 when the BMW he was travelling in struck a tree on the A4130 between Bix and Nettlebed. The driver, Lewis Moghul, 22, also died.

Sammy is the younger brother of Mr Trailor-Thompson’s oldest friend, Jamie, who lives in Nicholas Road with mother Justine Morris and sister Zuzu Phillips.

Mr Trailor-Thompson, who lives in St Andrew’s Road, hopes to raise more than £3,500 for RoadPeace, a charity for road crash victims.

The challenge starts and finishes at Calella beach, with the first leg being a swim, followed by cycling two loops along the coastline from Calella to Badalona, which includes 750m of elevation gain. The third leg is a three-lap run between Calella and Pineda de Mar.

Mr Trailor-Thompson said: “Sammy grew up doing triathlons so I’ve wanted to do an ironman for quite a while and it all aligned. It felt like the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

“Jamie’s family have also been involved and supported by RoadPeace since Sammy’s road traffic collision. Just seeing that they’ve had that safe space and relatability has definitely helped them in the changes in circumstances that have happened since. The reason I’ve gone with the charity is mainly because I do think stuff needs to be done around road safety.

“From a policy perspective, if you look at other developed countries in the world, places like Australia and the US, they all have a graduated driving licence system and that system has significantly helped their road safety.

“For young drivers, that would definitely increase safety, not only for their own lives but for the possible collateral loss if they were to get into an accident. In the last five years, there’s probably been a number of incidents like this just around Henley.

“There can be a lot of social pressures that people think they need to live up to and I think more can be done.

“Driving with a black box for a year made my driving so much better because I was conscious of how you drive. I don’t understand why you can’t mandate that as something for young drivers.

“The loss of life risk to any innocent bystander or any other road user or children crossing the road from school is mental and it’s like they’re putting so much trust in teenage boys who really don’t have any requirement to be monitored or anything, as long as they can pay their insurance.”

Mr Trailor-Thompson has spent the last six months in training for what will be his first triathlon. He has trained for between 10 and 20 hours a week, including in the pool at Gillotts leisure centre and cycling in and around Henley and the Chilterns.

He said: “Sammy was very sporty when he was younger and was part of Henley Triathlon Club. We were quite similar in a lot of ways, especially towards the last part of his life. I found myself being in a position to really relate to him and that was really lovely.

“Jamie and I went to nursery together at Treetops in Henley. We’ve known each other since we were two years old. As a result of that, Sammy had always been a large part of my life.”

Mr Trailor-Thompson hopes to overcome his fear of deep water.

He said: “It’s an irrational fear so this will be a serious undertaking. I’m going to have to be in deep water for about an hour surrounded by other people, which I think will make it better but it’s still going to be mentally challenging. That was definitely a big reason for me picking this one because there’s various different iron man races.

“Prior to my training, I could swim to survive. I’ve only been swimming for fitness for the last six months and I’ve put a huge amount of work into it.

“I have been exposing myself to open water swimming bit by bit over the last two months and I’m now confident enough to be in the water on my own. I think the adrenaline will get me through.

“I’m definitely feeling apprehensive but also feeling anxious and excited. I definitely feel ready. I’ve done enough work now and I feel comfortable and confident that I’ll see it through to the end.”

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