TriMotivate gears up for another year of Ironman events

Media Release

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Anne Massey is competing in her first 70.3 Ironman at 68 years old. Image: supplied

Previous NZ triathlon world championship representative and business owner of TriMotivate Performance Triathlon Coaching Renee Ker thinks it’s great to see every year the numbers continue to grow for local athletes getting involved in the Ironman events.

“We have a record number of athletes involved in this year’s events and have taken on new coaches to support the rise in involvement”, Mr Ker said. “It’s fantastic too to see the return of other Ironman events such as the Iron Kids this year around too. “

“Every year the numbers not only rise for athlete involvement but also for support. Year on year support grows from people on deck chairs on the highway cheering on cyclists passing by to people in fancy dress and firing water guns on the esplanade. It's so great to see the region really getting behind this event.”

G1 and G2 - the grandmothers of triathlon

Anne and Judy are affectionately known as G1 and G2. Meaning Grandmother one and two. Who does triathlon in their 60’s? Well this dynamic pair does!

G1 is Anne Massey, she is well known in business circles in Australia and has been listed as one of the top 50 professionals in Australia and is an executive coach to CEOs’ throughout the country.

What is the most impressive about Anne is she is competing in her first 70.3 Ironman at 68 years old. Anne was not always the picture of health and turned her life around to become healthy and fit after a promise made.

G2 is Judy O’Donahoo who is 66 years old who has a long history of keeping active as is well known in triathlon and running circles in Cairns and is competing in her second and last 70.3 Ironman. What comes with an older age comes with some challenges and Judy has navigated an injury to get to the start line.

It has not stopped her mentally. Judy is a great cyclist and has become quite an accomplished swimmer having grasped a fear of the open water and now enjoying swimming, telling her coach after swimming in some of the worst ocean conditions recently

Team Trimotivate

Ex Taipan player, local emcee and radio presenter, the 7-foot tall - Matt Smith joins team TriMotivate.

Also joining Matt is a very talented ex-professional soccer player; now cyclist DJ who has had two serious bike accidents in the last year. One was only weeks ago and was taken out at a roundabout when a car failed to give way, accelerating into him.

An accident where he is lucky to be still alive. He still has ankle issues, but he is one tough cookie and not going to miss this event. He has had to loan his coach's Scott Time Trial bike to complete the event.

Luckily, they are the same height. Running in the event is his wife Nicky, a talented runner who used to compete against Cathy Freeman and train alongside Brad Bevan This is a team of resilience with Matt Smith having suffered from a stroke in 2019 and DJ some years before ending his soccer career well before its time, an unlikely occurrence for men under 40 years old.

 

 

Newbie to Nailing it

“Athlete Upasana could not swim 50m to start and was very wobbly on her first road bike. It was amazing to coach”, says coach Renee . “She is one of those wonderful people with so much self- awareness that she is able to replicate everything you tell her absolutely perfectly.

“She now has a beautiful swim stroke that most would envy is just 8 months of training. She is certainly one of our success stories and works so hard, every time to get it right. “Racing in the Cairns 70.3 this weekend we will see her absolutely shine!”

 

 

The Taylor Duo – Brother and Sister

These are two to watch! Podium finishers in local triathlon events and much-loved brother and sister duo with both battling it out in the Cairns 70.3 Ironman.

Meg Taylor a accomplished athlete herself as one of Cairns top five female athletes she enticed her brother Jack over to triathlon 2 years ago and his first swim was entering the pool with baggy board shorts and without owning a set of goggles, The rest is history with Jack now one of Cairns top male athletes. These two are often on the podiums on races and it will be fantastic to see how these two go during the Cairns 70.3 ironman

 

 

It’s a family affair

Tara Whykes and partner Jack Taylor have navigated training with a 6-year-old, Chelsea. Jack was taken out of the Cairns half marathon last year due to injury from Chelsea practising her kick from Jiu Jitsu training. It is not something Jack lived down easily having been beaten up by a 6-year-old and been taken out of the race! Jack came back harder than ever and it's now Chelsea too that is part of the event, she has entered the Iron kids! This little family is made of some tough stuff.

The Doctors are in the House!

TriMotivate has a team of 6 Doctors on the squad...Some stories of the three below.
Kris Salaveria is competing in his first 70.3 Ironman and works at Cairns Base Hospital navigating long 12-hour shifts in the intensive year unit and his triathlon coaching around this. When Kris ended up with COVID it made a dent in his training plan, but Kris worked hard after he was fully recovered to get back on track. Kris has come along in leaps and bounds to progress and get to the start line of the Cairns 70.3 ironman

Cardiologist Steven Sutcliffe is one of the most loved triathletes in town, known for his never-ending smile, even during a tough session. Steve’s success story is quite incredible, having lost over 20 kilos over the past 3 years, having beat cancer and recovered from a stroke, all in two years. He kept his training up during a recent trip to the UK, Steve swan in 13-degree water to keep his swim training up! This will be Steve’s third 70.3 Ironman.


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