Canham earned his place to compete against the best 150 long-distance triathletes in his age group (40-44) at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in December when he finished seventh (81st overall) in an event in New Zealand.

He chose to compete in New Zealand as the European season tends to run from June-July for Ironman events and that wouldn't allow sufficient time to recover before trying to peak again for Hawaii.

He said: "I was very chuffed with how well I went in New Zealand but I hope it isn't my pinnacle. I hope I can peak again and perform well in Hawaii."

The Ironman consists of a 3.8k swim, 180k bike ride and full marathon (42.2k) run and Canham made his debut over the distance in Austria in 2004 before tackling another on a hilly course in windy conditions in Lanzarote last year.

But New Zealand was where he really came into his own, and he was particularly happy to run a 3.22 marathon at the end of the event. Before that he had tackled the swim in 65 minutes and the bike section in five hours 14 minutes and the transitions - including a 400m run between the first two disciplines (as if running 26 miles just a few hours later wouldn't be enough!) - gave him a total time of 9.49.

He added: "I'm still learning as I haven't been doing the Ironman for that long, but going to Hawaii will be amazing.

"I've competed for Britain in European and World Championships for both triathlon and duathlon but those events are not in the same league as Hawaii. The Hawaii Ironman really got triathlon going 30 years ago and it's the event to go for.

"The standard will be high so I'm looking to finish in the first 100 in my age group and anything else will be a bonus. I'm 44 so am competing against people up to four years younger but next year I move up to the 45-49 category and can hopefully finish higher up."

Canham spends 25 hours per week training - swimming with City of Peterborough Swimmers (COPS), cycling with Peterborough Cycling Club and running for Stamford Striders - to get himself physically in shape for such an event but he insists mental strength is just as important. He added: "The first 10k of the marathon are okay but when you get to the middle third you just want to stop. It's a real mental challenge to keep going.

"But my performance in New Zealand has given me a big boost and I will now recover before trying to peak again for Hawaii."