Richard and I both share the same passion for triathlon and have often wondered what it would take to go professional in this amazing sport. At the ages of 30 and 32, we realised it was now or never to give it a go and chase our dreams. We made the (controversial? brave? crazy?) decision to quit our full time jobs in Singapore and move back to the UK.
The dream is to run our triathlon coaching company, Tri2, alongside pursuing a full training program ourselves. We have given ourselves one year to train hard and see if it is at all possible to qualify as professional triathletes. It might sound crazy but neither of us wanted to live to regret not having a go. We may or may not have left it too late but we both agree that life is too short not to chase your dreams.
With some savings in the bank and our amazing family’s support, we are now dedicating every day for a year to triathlon training to see what we can both achieve. The training schedule will be rigorous and we are taking it very seriously as we have a lot of catching up to do if we are going to make it.
We share the same determination, self belief and love of triathlon to make all of this possible. Richard has always been addicted to sports and could have possibly made it as a professional rugby player in his younger days had a bad knee injury not stopped him abruptly. Sophie also thrived on sport throughout school but broke her leg at 17. When she later discovered cycling, there were some opportunities to be coached to a professional level but she was not interested at the time and only wanted to bike for a love of biking rather than a potential career choice.
So here we find ourselves at the start of our “One Year to Go Pro” campaign. We hope to share our journey from day one as we experience the ups and downs of training full time and all the adventures we hope to go on. Based in Cornwall and the Lake District, we are extremely lucky to be surrounded by beautiful training grounds. With over 400 Kernow beaches and multiple lakes around Keswick, we have no excuse not to become open water swimming experts. With the surrounding hills, wainwrights and mountains of both counties, we hope to build crazy climbing skills on the bike. The coastal paths and fells will also provide us with stunning running terrain (so long as we remember to look up from the numbers on our Garmin watches)!
We are so excited by this challenge of a lifetime and can’t wait to share our journey. We hope you will join and enjoy!
Sophie and Richard (The 2 in Tri2)
