Somehow no matter what you organise, sometimes something happens that changes everything and threatens to overshadow it. I got involved in helping to co-ordinate an Olympic handover in Southampton.

Over one hundred years ago there was an Olympic event on Southampton water, which involved a powerboat event. So I managed to get Shelley Jory a P1 power boat racer involved. She brought the 2012 flag down river in a classic 1960’s powerboat. Then the four clubs from Southampton took the flag up river to hand over to some cyclists.

It was at this point the shadow threatened to change everything. The Wednesday before a tragic accident had took place on the Itchen bridge. The first thing I knew about it was after I received a call from Mark Adams on Thursday. Two cyclists from DHC cycle club were hit by a car on the bridge, the car killed one instantly and the other ended up in a coma. The club was the one to take the flag on through the city.

In memory of their team mate, fourty cyclists including some from other clubs. I had the job of following the peleton whilst the flag was being cycled through the city to the runners. It was a superb display on how being a member of any group can be something special when something awful happens, sport in this case provided a common bond. I had met the cyclist on the ferry when I had been fundraising. The late Derek Witt had helped me make a huge difference to others.

The fundraising on the ferry has shifted from rowing to cycling with a bike on a stationary trainer, which is working well. I also took the chance to train on the Calshot velodrome. Not quite emulating Chris Hoy but enough to cover 75km. How these guys do what they did in the Olympics to such a high level I will never know.

Then came one of the firsts that had to come this year and one I spent away from mum for the first time, my birthday. It felt like there was a massive gap without that unrequited joy in celebrating my day, without the one person that gave it to me. So it was a case of doing something that was to keep myself busy. That something was going to provide some much needed support for the charities.

Throughout Cowes week I was next to the RYA Skandia team GBR stand and I got to know a member of staff at the RYA. She managed to arrange for me to meet the GB sailing squad and they were very obliging in signing some ducks for me. My friend Polly knew Paul Goodison and he knew I was coming. Paul pulled out his Olympic gold medal and allowed me to wear it. He also helped me get hold of a signed GB buoyancy aid. This was a massive boost.