Chaffey content to bow out

PARATRIATHLETE Bill Chaffey says he will retire content with what he has achieved despite missing out on claiming a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Chaffey’s bronze medal performance at the Games was his last race before drawing the curtain on a decade-long career that has delivered an unprecedented five world championships.

A crash on the third lap of the bike leg cost Chaffey his hopes of winning gold at the Games but the Gold Coaster said he would leave the sport with no regrets and happy with his accomplishments.

“I was hoping to finish on the Gold Coast with the best result in front of my home crowd but unfortunately I couldn’t do that,” Chaffey said.

“In the 10 years I have been doing this I have had a fantastic career and won a lot of races. No one else in the sport has won five world championships so I’m pretty proud of what I have done.

“I won’t be going on to Tokyo (2020) and I won’t be doing any ITU racing.

“International racing is over for me. I have reached a point where I am really happy with what I have achieved.”

Chaffey’s Commonwealth Games crash was a reflection of his attitude to racing.

The 42-year-old races “with his heart on his sleeve”.

“I leave everything out there on the racecourse,” he said.

“I would hate to finish a race and think I could have done this, I could have done that or gone harder in this section.

“Unfortunately I gave it a bit too much (at the Games).

“I still believe if I didn’t come off that I would have won the race but that is nobody’s fault but mine.”