Winning ways help triathlete lose kilos
Bay star off to race in Europe thanks to new love of sport
FROM chubby but cheerful teen to lean, mean triathlon machine, Travis McGrath’s transformation – and 38kg weight loss – has been both physical and mental. At 19, and tipping the scales at 113kg, McGrath had little to no hope of ever completing a triathlon.
But fast forward three years to today and McGrath, who now represents South Africa in the discipline, is heading to Europe later this year to take part in four races.
McGrath, a BCom marketing and industrial psychology student set to graduate in April, said he first started taking part in triathlons for fun but soon realised he could achieve a lot if he knuckled down and took the sport more seriously.
It was in matric that McGrath realised he was on a slippery slope due to his weight.
“I was always the happy fat guy, although I took part in sport such as water polo. I was even in the provincial team, but I never really paid much attention to what I ate,” he said.
“It was only during my matric year that I started feeling self-conscious about myself.
“My brother and his then girlfriend introduced me to triathlons. I then bought my first bike and slowly started cycling.”
Soon McGrath had entered the Half Ironman in East London and started training for that.
Still quite overweight, at 92kg at the time, he admits the race was a real challenge.
“The preparation was extremely hard. I enjoyed it though. I enjoyed all of the training,” McGrath said.
“I connected with people who had the same ambitions as me, who wanted to achieve the same goals.”
The more McGrath trained and took part in triathlons, the more he discovered that he had a great love for the sport.
Some of his achievements include coming third in the Triathlon World Cup in Cape Town last year and first in the amateur field for the Herald Cycle Tour last month.
“Taking part in everything I could has led to my transformation. It hasn’t been easy but it has definitely been worth it,” McGrath said.
“Today I eat twice as much as I used to, so it’s not about how many times a day you eat, it’s about what you eat and how you eat.”
He leaves in September to take part in the Blenheim Palace Triathlon, and the ITU World Triathlon series races in Leeds, United Kingdom, Hamburg, Germany and Rotterdam, Holland.
McGrath says that had he not looked in the mirror and realised he needed to lose weight, he would never have discovered his love for a sport which now takes centre stage in his life.