AGE: 34

HOMETOWN: Traralgon,
VIC

YEARS IN TRIATHLON: 2
years. I competed in my first Sprint Distance Tri in February 2022. Things progress reasonably quickly completing three 70.3’s in 2022 into my first Ironman in March 2023 at Ironman New Zealand.

Tell us about you family / support crew?

I’m incredibly lucky to have my wife Whitney, daughter Malia (6) and son Sage (3) backing me 100%. On top of this I have amazing support from my Mum, my brother Joel and his wife Abbey, in-laws Penny and Johno and sister-in-law Cara. All of
these guys have been a huge support to both training and racing and there’s no way I could achieve what I have without them.

What got you into triathlon and what are your goals over the next couple of years?

Initially I got into triathlon as I desperately needed to implement a change to a healthier lifestyle. I have always been on and off with cycling, both road and mountain biking, as well having completed several running events from 5k to 50k trails runs. Once I really delved into triathlon, I really nerded out on the theory, technology, and analytical aspects of the sport.

With Ironman NZ in the bank and a Kona slot secured, my goal for this year will be full focus on the Ironman World Championship in October. Realistically I’d like to go top 10 in my age group, if we can make a fruit bowl happen that would be amazing.

Tell us about your recent IMNZ Overall Age Group Win?

Off the back of the 2023 Ironman World Championship in Nice last year, I knew I wanted to go back to NZ this year first off to get a slot for Kona but also a long way out I had my eyes on the Overall Win. I got in contact with Clayto in October last year and told him this was the goal during our first conversation, and I think we really got fired up that it was achievable after the AG win at
Busso 70.3.

We got straight to work after Busso and we were able to string together super consistent block from Christmas through to the race.

On the day it probably wasn’t your typical Taupo day with the wind up very early in the morning and it then persisted all day. A slow swim left me with a bit of work to do on the bike, I think I was around 45-50th overall. A good T1 and first lap of the bike I was up to 2nd overall. Probably wasn’t putting the numbers out I thought I might, but the speed was there and I passed a couple of the pros at the end of the first lap and thought I mustn’t be going too bad. Second lap I conserved a little, putting some trust in my run that I could catch anyone that might be in front of me. Came out of T2 side by side with 2nd place and I was feeling pretty good. By 10 k’s I had a 2 and half minute gap and built that to just under 8 mins by 30k’s. In the last 10 I did fade a little but luckily my fade was no slower than the guys were
running behind me.

Crossing the line, having my wife there and knowing that I had re-paid all the sacrifices and achieved the goal I was stoked! Since the race, I’ve definitely had some moments of imposter syndrome knowing there’s a lot of room still for improvement. More fuel to the fire!

If you could be any pro athlete, in any sport for a month, who would you be and why?

Without a doubt I’d pick a month in Mathieu van der Poel’s cycling shoes, particularly a month of the Spring Classics. To experience the feeling of being the fittest, most skilful rider in the world and to know that every race you go to it’s only
you or 2 other guys that could win. But then to dominate everyone, even those 2 guys, that would be insane

Does life leave time for anything outside of tri / work?

Admittedly the last 3 months heading into IM NZ, between training 22-24 hours a week, starting a new job, run coaching a continually growing group of athletes through Running Strong and trying my best to still be a supportive husband/Dad (oh yeah and sleep!) there wasn’t much time for a lot else.

Now that training has backed off slightly for a little bit I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time of time with the family, getting back on the gravel bike and reconnecting with a few mates.