Age no barrier for triathletes

‘It’s just a mental thing and you prepare yourself for it, and it’s the drive we all have . . . It’s that drive to beat a youngster.’

Doing a triathlon at any age sounds daunting, but not for four Taranaki athletes – three of whom are above the retirement age.

Joy Baker, Shorty Clark and John Eagles – all aged over 65 – have qualified for the Triathlon World Championships after placing in their age groups at the recent NZ National Sprint Triathlon Champs at Kinloch.

Unfortunately, because of being selffunded, they, along with 46-year-old John Forest, are unlikely to go to the event in Switzerland in late August.

They all run with the Taranaki Triathlon Club, and all, apart from Clark, run for the enjoyment.

‘‘I’m totally different, I go there to win. I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t go for fun. And it’s not fun: you’re just hammering yourself to death for an hour and a half,’’ Clark, a retired Port Taranaki worker, said.

Clark admits that he couldn’t wait to retire so he could train like a full-time professional athlete.

‘‘I couldn’t wait for the day I turned 65,’’ he said.

The group, all from New Plymouth, trained separately for six days a week leading up to the race and said the mental drive was what kept them in the competition.

‘‘It’s just a mental thing and you prepare yourself for it, and it’s the drive we all have,’’ Clark said.

‘‘It’s that drive to beat a youngster.’’ ‘‘For me it’s not just a physical thing it’s mental thing as well. I enjoy doing it Shorty Clark

and I feel better after training.’’

‘‘If you miss a couple of days you notice it,’’ Eagles, a 71-year-old retired lawyer, said.

They all agreed that they all thought they would still be physically pushing themselves to achieve after they had retired, although Forest is yet to retire from his job as a physio for many years.

‘‘It gets you up in he morning, going and doing things, it’s a good start to the day,’’ Eagles said.

Baker, a 67-year-old retired meter reader, has been to 10 world championships and only became a triathlete at the age of 55.

They said it was never too late to get into something and that people who wanted to try triathlon running were welcome to contact the club via the website tritaranaki.nz.

‘‘And just give it a go,’’ Clark said. National Sprint Triathlon results: Men: 45-49 years, John Forest, second place with a time of 1:11:09; 65-69, Shorty Clark, first place, 1:21:45; 70-74, John Eagles, third place, 1:49:22.

Women: 65-69, Joy Baker, first place, 1:34:39.