Age No Barrier For Triathlon Dad

The old adage “another year older another year wiser” rings true for Torquay’s Nathan Taylor as he touches down in Hawaii ahead of the Ironman Triathlon World Championships.

At 44 years of age, the father of two is in the best shape of his life ahead of the October 14 event in Kona but this wasn’t always the case after he suffered a major injury two year ago.

“I had thought about doing triathlons in my 30s but didn’t think I would be able to commit the time needed and wasn’t sure I could do it physically,” Nathan said.

“One of my good female friends competed in the Ironman in Melbourne and that really inspired me so I registered and began training for the 2015 event.”

Nathan began a gruelling regime that he sourced from the internet, copying and pasting other athlete’s routines, but suffered a major setback two months before Ironman Melbourne.

“I got a stress fracture in my hip which meant I had to pull out and was unable to do anything for six months.

“When I recovered, I began training again and competed in the Port Macquarie Ironman qualifying for last year’s World Championships in Hawaii.

“I went over there (Hawaii) and got smashed in the swim, people were swimming over me and I rode too hard in the bike section and suffered on the run.

“When I got back, I contacted Adam Beckworth from Beckworth Racing and he became my coach.

“We sat down together and discovered I’d been over-training. We came up with a plan and the rest is history.”

Adam said Nathan was ready to take on the 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-kilometre bike ride and 42-kilometre run in what will be Nathan’s fourth triathlon in 16 months.

“Nathan hadn’t come from a high sporting back ground when he came to me or competed at a high level,” Adam said.

“I slowly built that into him and now he’s
got a lot of skills compared to 12 months ago.

“There’s a lot more understanding on his part now, not just to complete the race but to compete at the top level within his age group instead of just making up the numbers.”

Nathan said that it would all come down to six months’ training for one race and was hoping to reach his goal of under 10 hours, using his extra knowledge about nutrition and race tactics.

“Hawaii will be a big test because the conditions are so brutal but hopefully I’ll get a better result than last year because I’m smarter and I’ve learnt a lot more about racing,” he said.

“In racing terms, I burnt all my matches at the beginning of the race and went out too hard in the beginning. This year I’m going to hold back a little so I have more left in the next two legs.

“Last year, I completed the race in about 10 hours and 4 minutes coming in at 70th for my age group. This year, any minute under 10 hours will be a massive achievement.”