The Ordinary Bloke is Ian Mullane, a 39 year old originally hailing from Merseyside but now living in Singapore where he has been for the last 6 years. Ian is married to Sandy and has two children, Conor who is now 6 and Zara who is 3.
The blog was originally set up to chronicle the challenges Ian accepted for charity whilst he was still working as the Chief Operating Officer of Sungard in Asia Pacific. In particular the White Collar Boxing challenge of 2005 was chronicled in some detail where Ian went from a 124kg physical wreck to a sleek 95kg boxer who went on to compete in London to raise $100,000 for childrens charities and in particular the Ikamva Lethu Centre in the township of Kayamandi. During the challenged Ian stayed in the township and trained in the Khayelitsha where he trained with Zola Koti.
In 2007 Vanda Boxing Club was formed and the first White Collar Boxing events were held in Asia. At the end of 2007, Ian decided to pursue his vision of creating a series of businesses that would also allow him the ability to raise funds for childrens charities. Along with Vanda Boxing Club, Fidgets and Vanda Promotions were formed. Fidgets is Singapore’s largest indoor children’s playground, entertaining over 100,000 people a year and hosting more than 700 children’s birthday parties. Vanda Promotions is a sports event company, best known for the White Collar Boxing events put on around the region. To date the companies have raised and involved in fund raising totally over $500,000 as well as a number of other community initiatives.
Ordinary Bloke has been resurrected because Ian is about to take on another set of incredible challenges that will leave many wondering whether he is entering a mid life crisis.
