From Mentoring to Ironman: Why Archie is Showing Up

When Archie first signed up for the Ironman challenge, he didn’t have a grand plan or lifelong goal in mind. What he did have was a gut feeling and a healthy dose of curiosity.

“I think probably the main thing was just trying to see what I was capable of doing,” he shared. “I’d never done anything like it... never ran a marathon, never done anything that I would deem as sort of that hard.”

That’s how a full Ironman – a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile cycle, and a marathon, back-to-back – became Archie’s goal. No small feat, especially when balanced with everything else he has going on: studying for a Master’s in Organisational Psychology, completing assignments and a dissertation, mentoring a young person every week through us at TKN, and trying to maintain a social life (when his energy allows).

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It’s a schedule most would back away from, but Archie is still going one training session, one mentoring session, one week at a time.

“I try to celebrate every single day,” he said. “Even just sitting down for five minutes and saying, look what I’ve done today… I think mentally, the battle is pretty much the same every single time. So it’s about just showing up – and celebrating the showing up.”

His biggest milestone so far has been a 170km cycle from London to Cambridge and back using country roads. “That was the longest cycle I’ve done, and it was a big confidence booster.”

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But Archie isn’t just doing this for the personal challenge. He’s doing it for the children we support at TKN – the Little Londoners who, like his mentee, benefit from having a consistent, caring adult in their corner.

“I wanted to raise money for something that I kind of knew about and was involved in. As well as first-hand seeing what mentorship can do, I think it just felt like the right place to direct the funds.”

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His weekly mentoring sessions are usually sports-focused – a lot of football. “[My mentee and I] play for two hours... and he looks forward to the time that we spend together.” Between training and mentoring, Archie admits his legs are usually tired – “so I don’t move that much” – but that doesn’t stop the joy of the session. “It’s just nice to see a young person smiling, being happy, enjoying himself.”

Over time, he’s watched their relationship grow. “He’s opened up more and trusts me more... I’ve loved feeling our relationship get stronger.”

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For Archie, mentoring matters because it offers something many kids today don’t have enough of: consistent presence.

“In today’s world, when there’s so much noise, so much distraction especially for young boys, just having someone be there even to just kicking a football with them… that’s powerful.”

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The Ironman challenge, has become something bigger than just an endurance event. “I’ve committed to raising money for The Kids Network... I’m not just running for me, I’m running for the charity. It’s something bigger than myself.”

It’s that commitment that keeps him going when things get tough and it’s also what he hopes will inspire others to support his journey.

“To get behind me is to get behind the charity.”

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Archie is aiming to raise £5,000. Enough to give 12 Little Londoners a full year of activity budgets with their mentors. 

That’s 12 fuller childhoods, 12 growing connections, and 12 children who know someone truly cares.

He’s currently at 16% of his goal, and your support could help him cross the finish line for himself and for the kids.

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If you’d like to donate to Archie’s Ironman fundraiser and help us support more Little Londoners with one-to-one mentoring, you can do so here

And if you’ve been thinking about mentoring or fundraising yourself? Archie has one simple piece of advice:

“Do it. You learn about yourself… and you get to contribute to something bigger than yourself. It’s a win-win, really.”
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We are all cheering you on every step of the way!

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