Mark has stopped being a couch potato!
This column has always tried to promote the view that sport in Pembrokeshire provides a rich and varied choice of leisure pursuits to suit almost everyone's needs and Mark Edwards is now living proof of that fact.
Mark is a self-confessed 'couch potato' whose work from a very young age kept him away from much participation in any sport - but a chance meeting with a spare bicycle has seen him be so heavily involved in training that he is now entered for Iron man Wales for 2016!
Surprise encounter with a bike
His initial involvement came in the 'Pembs to Paris' cycling challenge to raise funds for local charities, where he and his wife Angela were roped in to act as drivers in the support vans, with sons David and Leon also involved.
At the start of the second day, just before the group set out from Cardiff, he spotted the spare bike, supplied by Mark Rendell, of Mike's Bikes and asked if he could have a try, to which the others like Graham Williams, Alan Bain and Toby Ellis ready agreed.
So Mark set off with a little trepidation but soon settled in - and was still cycling away when the team rode into Paris and along the Champs Elysees to start their celebrations.
Minor problems overcome
"It was tough to start but after a couple of days my only problem was saddle soreness that stayed with me throughout a memorable trip!
"It wasn't all plain sailing though," Mark admitted, "and the worst moment came when we had to cycle two miles up a very steep hill on a narrow road and there was a lengthy queue of cars behind me, some of them tooting their horns.
"I was tempted to get off but Mark (Rendell) shouted to keep going - and I eventually made it to the summit!"
Amazing memories – and another challenge to overcome
Our three days in France were amazing and when Alan Bain led us into the Eiffel Tower we were received like film stars from the crowds there - and we really enjoyed a few celebratory pints before flying back home!"
Mark taking on the Iron Man challenge came about when Steve Thompson, his brother in law and an excellent former footballer with Merlins Bridge, said he was thinking about entering in 2017 - and after Mark and his daughter Carlie had a look on line to find out about it - and she entered her dad before he could blink.
Started swimming from scratch
His progress since the initial shock is all the more remarkable because he readily admits to having been an 'awful swimmer' who could only muster a width of breaststroke until he started from scratch with Claire Davies at the Haverfordwest Leisure Centre pool.
"She has been amazingly patient," admitted Mark, taking me right back to scratch and even managing to make it fun as I gradually mastered the front crawl over about 100 lessons, with some extra coaching from Ollie Simon, the professional triathlete from Tenby.
"Ian Thomas, who works at Mike's Bikes in Prendergast has also helped with my swimming at 'Swimfit' classes, which I go to at 7.30am on Tuesday mornings and 9pm on Wednesday nights.
Now in the open sea in earnest
"When we were on holiday in the Grenadines I tried to swim 2-5 miles a day, the equivalent of the Iron Man distance - and since we came home I have also been down to Dale to swim two and a half miles in open water with Graham Williams, who is also taking on Iron Man; and we've swum from Amroth to Saundersfoot and back.
"I always wear a wet suit and will continue to build up my stamina for swimming - but I have been warned that it is totally different with 1,499 other swimmers looking for the same space in the water, a friend likening it to being in a giant tumble drier!
"I am aiming for a time of under 90 minutes but have already decided that if others want to get ahead of me they are more than welcome!"
Cycling soon sorted in Spain
Cycling posed a slightly more straightforward challenge for Mark after his excursion with Pembs to Paris and he has also cycled a maximum of 201 miles in one day as he and others like famous rugby players Shane Williams and Ryan Jones cycled from Narberth to Southampton in aid of the Princes Gate Trust.
"Dai Jones set up the Trust to help under-privileged children and a group of us cycled in pursuit of the Welsh football team setting off for Bordeaux in the European Championships.
"Again it was hard work but nothing compared to a week in Spain where Graham and I joined a group of 20 cycling up steep mountain roads for eight miles at a time. It was torture but we daren't hold up the group, some of whom were semi-professionals."
At the end of their time they were managing much better and on the final evening it was revealed that Mark had been chosen as 'Cyclist of the Week.
"But I think it was because the rest felt sorry for me," said Mark with a chuckle!
Course completed and Be that as it may, Mark's cycling has come on in leaps and bounds and he has already completed the course for the Iron Man challenge but, as he reminded us, not with swim before and a marathon still to 'enjoy'!
Low-key sportsman because of workaholism!
On the subject of marathon running, Mark's only previous experience was a half marathon in Tenby when he was 20, over 30 years ago, and his only other sporting performances came as a goalkeeper with Clarbeston Road Juniors, where he once played in a Summer Cup Final at Penffordd and fished the ball out of his net seven times!
"From the age of 12 I always had a job at weekends; starting out by serving petrol in a garage, working in a building supplies company, as a baker boy in Quicksave (starting work at 2am on a Saturday morning after dancing in the old Market Hall until midnight!
"Then I joined dad on the taxis as soon as I was able, ran the 'Southern Fried Chicken' in Cartlett and then 'Chicken Eddies' in the town centre before I opened Eddie's Snooker Hall and then the night club.
As a result I had little time for sporting activities, although I have always done my share of rushing around with work - and for the last nine years as the county councillor for the Prendergast Ward of Pembrokeshire County Council!"
Running hard with good food providing the energy
"Perhaps that is why I took to running quite well, often using the turbo at home for distances of ten miles if it is wet and often running up Plumstone Mountain and back, a distance of 14 miles.
"My wife Angela is looking after my nutrition, with plenty of chicken, pasta, steaks, potatoes, and bread alongside drinking of plenty of water, with similarly wonderful support from my children David, Leon, Danielle and Carlie, who is to blame for my current training schedule!
Mark hopes to raise money for local charities in the Iron Man, including the Princes Gate Trust, Autism and Greenacres Dog Charity, and it is a fair bet that all three will benefit from his efforts.
Ask him about the future and Mark would say that he will continue in the same vein, perhaps with another challenge, like cycling up The Alps.
"I have enjoyed getting fitter and aim to continue that effort so I don't go back to being a couch potato. It is a great way to relax after the pressures of work and I would recommend it to others," he says, with the infectious enthusiasm that always seems to lift others, alongside his genuine desire to help some worthwhile local causes!