A sports reporter diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in his early 20s is tackling an Olympic distance triathlon later this year in London.

Stevie Roden, from the Nottingham Evening Post, is hoping to complete the 1.5K swim in the Thames, 40K bike ride and 10K run both as a personal challenge and to raise money for a children's charity.

At the age of just 24, Stevie started to find everyday tasks such as getting out of the bath or pulling on socks near impossible.

After countless visits to the doctors and blood tests, rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed – a condition where the immune system attacks itself and can affect all the body's joints.

Through the right balance of tablets and medication, the symptoms are now under control and Stevie has managed to get his life back to normality.

The 28-year-old told HTFP: "I'm not suffering any problems at the moment but I could do.

"I started training on the first Monday after new year and have a programme to follow from a triathlon website doing short swims and runs, and building it up.

"I've got an appointment on 2 March with my arthritis specialist and I'm going to tell him about the triathlon then.

"I'm training mainly on my own and some friends have said they'll come along on runs and bike rides."

Steve's progress, in what is his first attempt at anything of this scale, will be documented both in print and online, including weekly updates on his blog.

He is also planning to take part in a couple of taster triathlons in the East Midlands later in the year.

Stevie is hoping to raise a four-figure sum of cash for the Nottingham-based charity When You Wish Upon a Star which organises days out and experiences for sick and terminally ill children.

He added: "At Christmas I went to Lapland for the day with the charity on a reporting assignment with terminally ill children.

"It was quite an experience, it lights the kids up. I said to them then that, if I ever did anything for charity, I would raise money for them."