hyu(upbeat music)
(cheering)
- Lemmy, Lemmy, seek!
Oh (beep) (mumbles).
- Growing up I was like most kids.
I loved to muck about with my mates, dare one another,
push each other to our limits
and pull pranks on one another.
And during all of this, there was a program on MTV
called Dirty Sanchez that took all of this
to a whole new level.
And I think it's fair to say most kids wouldn't even
consider trying to imitate some of the pranks
that they got up to,
from slapping one another round the face with a cactus,
gluing their nostrils together,
and even stapling their tongues.
And that was just some of the tame stuff.
It was pretty mental.
Now the reason I'm talking about all of this today
is cause we popped along to Cardiff to meet up
with one of the co-stars of that show, Matthew Pritchard.
Now I've been dying to meet up with Matt for some time now
cause his story is fascinating.
He's left that world of alcohol, drugs, partying
and pranks behind and he's totally immersed himself
in the world of endurance sport.
He's even recently circumnavigated his home country
of Wales whilst doing a triathlon.
Now he has totally transformed his life
and I'm dying to meet up with him to hear that story.
(metallic chime)
(emotive chords)
- [Matt] I'm doing the Brutal Continuous Deca
at the end of July
and that's-- - Triple Iron Man,
is that right? Is that like...?
- Ten. - Ten Iron Mans?
- Ten. - Okay, wow. (laughs)
- Well it's ten Iron Mans but it's all in one
so all the swims in one,
so that's 24 mile swim I think it is,
1200 mile bike ride and a 272 mile marathon run.
- Wow, okay.
- I've got to finish within 350 hours,
hence why my training recently has just been
coming around here in circles and running round in circles
and swimming just back and forth, back and forth.
It's not really about speed, it's just getting my body
used to plodding, plodding, plodding.
- It's amazing,
so obviously that massive shift from your previous life
before endurance sport.
So talk us through that.
- Dirty Sanchez, ten years of just
absolute (beep) chaos, it was mental.
Lots of partying, lots of narcotics, lots of alcohol,
lots of everything.
I was a professional skateboarder before then
and I was really fit and healthy.
And slowly but surely as the years come along,
these kind of things catch up with you.
And I saw a photo of myself, saw a video of myself,
and I just thought, "what have I become?"
I wanted to get shot at point blank range
with a bulletproof vest on.
So we thought the best way to do something like that,
where somebody would agree to do it, was Prague.
So we went to Prague and I put the vest on
and we just had this double barrel shotgun
right in front of me and I (beep)
honestly man once you see that,
it (beep) sets the adrenaline going.
And he shot me.
(gunshot) (sirens)
- [Presenter] Well needless to say,
I'm not sure this prank went quite as they envisaged.
Matt laid on the floor with shotgun fragments embedded
in his arm and his chest
and it was around this point that he decided
to turn his life around.
Back when he was 15 he did his hometown half marathon,
the Cardiff Half.
He set himself the challenge of completing it once again,
after all these years of abuse on his body.
- And I did it, and I really enjoyed the training,
I really enjoyed the marathon, I got the buzz for it.
And half marathon went from half to full
and then it's the Ultimate then and the Ironman.
I didn't even go Half Ironman, I didn't even go,
I just went straight into triathlon really,
the full Ironman.
And that was thanks to my mate Buttsy Butler,
he sent me a YouTube clip of Rick and Dick Hoyt,
dad and disabled son,
and he swims with him in a dinghy,
puts him into a specially made bike, pushes him,
rides with him on a bike and then pushes him in a wheelchair
to the finish line, just like, wow.
That really put a bit of a tear in my eye if I'm honest.
I just though, "Well if he can do it, then I can do it,"
and that's what inspired me to start Ironman.
- [Presenter] All right well you spoke a bit
about the marathon running, come to your running spot,
it's probably time we go for a run.
(upbeat music)
♪ This is the hour ♪
♪ The darkest place ♪
♪ Dante's Inferno ♪
♪ The Devil's maze ♪
♪ It's a good world ♪
♪ Good world gone bad ♪
- I've got an addictive personality,
so when I get into something,
if I enjoy something I get into it,
I'm not going in half-hearted.
I went, it was the Ironman, Ironman Bolton.
So I thought, "well, I have to really train for this,
"this is a biggie."
So instead of just building up my running
I decided to run from John O' Groats to Lands End
in 30 days, 34 miles a day for 30 days with two of my mates.
I thought, "all right that was my running training,"
cycled John O' Groats to Lands End as well then.
That took seven days.
So I was pretty much ready to go really
and just from there I did my first Ironman
and it was, whoa.
It's what I expected, tough.
(yelling)
(upbeat music)
I think I get more of a buzz out of longer stuff.
And I can go into my mind a bit more on longer stuff,
cause if I know I'm going to be on a bike
for hours and hours on end,
I've got to try and switch off.
Sometimes I do get quite emotional on the bike as well,
or on the run, I've known in the past to cry and stuff
just from pure, just everything coming on top.
(emotive music)
- [Presenter] Exercise and endurance sport has not just been
a change of lifestyle for Matt,
but in some ways a savior.
In fact Matt has been very open about his struggles
with mental health.
- As far as my mental health's concerned
it's (beep) really, really important.
If I don't do anything I go proper downhill and I know,
so I know now just to keep myself active,
maybe train twice a day and I'm fine.
There's a lot of people ask me about mental health stuff
and how did I sort,
how did I go from Sanchez and all the partying
and all that kind of stuff
and it's not for everyone but I always tell people
to do exercise.
But people go, "Oh but I can't run as far as you."
It's like, it's not about running as far as me.
It's not cycling as far as me or anybody else.
It's you, it's a personal journey.
If you want to cycle a mile and it makes you feel good,
brilliant.
And with anything, I had to start from the start,
I didn't just go...
Well no I'm a little bit more stupid than most.
But you've just got to take your time,
build on it, build on it, build on it.
If you're going to go too far to start with
you're going to injure yourself
and then you could end up being in a darker place
than where you started.
- That has been a really interesting day,
fascinating hearing Matt's story,
so thank you so much Matt for your time today.
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And if you'd like to see another video
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then you can see that by just clicking down here.