“I Still Train Like a Nutcase”

Engineer, pro triathlete, BTF president, ITU vice president… It can only be Dame Sarah Springman, one of triathlon’s leading proponents…

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I was always competitive as a child and wanted to be the best at something. I was brought up with a tennis court in the back garden and a tiny pool, so we were in and out of the water the whole time. When I went to boarding school in Buckinghamshire we had sport every day: lacrosse, tennis, and the Godstowe game which was a mixture of rugby and netball – completely crazy but I absolutely adored it!

I discovered running when I was working as an engineer in Fiji in the early 80s. I wanted to win the Fiji fun run, 250 Fiji dollars and a trip to Sydney. My erstwhile coach was a Fiji Times journalist who knew sod all about running to the extent that after five weeks I’d run my first marathon. But I won, and again the following year with a personal best of 36:56. I don’t think I’ve ever run a faster 10k.