A teaching assistant who completed 10 Ironman triathlons in 10 days has expressed his sincere thanks to the people of Alfreton for supporting him during his challenge.

James Simpson, who works at Woodbridge Junior School, won The Deca event, coming first out of the six people who completed the incredible challenge.

Over the course of 10 days, James swam 24 miles, cycled for 1,120 miles and ran for 262 miles.

James completed the Ironman triathlons in 145 hours, averaging around 15 hours per day for 10 days.

He said: “It was tough but I did it and I even won, which was amazing. I won the whole thing. I think there were six finishes out of the 11 or 12 people that started.

“The official announcement at the end was that there’s definitely less than 300 people in the world that have done it, so that’s very cool.

“It’s definitely a team sport. People always say that – I couldn’t have done it without the people supporting me. I can’t really emphasise enough that I couldn’t have done it without the people supporting me. It was incredible.

“The people of Alfreton have made a huge difference that actually had a really, really positive impact on me.”

James embarked on the challenge, which finished on Thursday (July 28) evening, in aid of Active8 Alfreton, a project to be delivered in partnership between Sisu Derbyshire and Alfreton Town Council.

Active8 Alfreton will encourage people of all ages and abilities to take part in some form of regular exercise.

James, who is also a forest schools practitioner, had hoped to raise £5,000 to support outdoor activities for young people but has raised more than £13,000.

He said: “When I went into this and agreed to do some fundraising, at first I was reluctant but actually it added a whole other level of meaning to what I was doing.

“It was a very, very positive experience to know that my home town was rooting for me. That doesn’t happen very often in life and that was a really positive thing, so I’d like to thank the people of Alfreton.”

James’ Just Giving page is still live for anyone else who would like to donate.

You can find it here.