A FROME man has been selected to represent Great Britain at the ITU World Triathlon Championships which takes place on 31st August.
Kirk Latham will compete at the sprint distance triathlon which consists of a 750m open water swim, 20k bike ride and a 5k run. The championships are in Edmonton, Canada, and for Kirk, this will represent a milestone in a sport he only took up just over a year ago.
Previously the only sport he played was football, before a friend encouraged him to enter a triathlon at Ringwood. Since then, he has been hooked on triathlon. Kirk said, “I am competitive by nature and having found a interest in this sport, wanted to go all out and better myself.
“16 months ago, I couldn’t swim competitively, bike very far or run a fast distance. But I joined the Hot Chilli Triathlon Club and used the personal trainer, Richard Smith, to teach me to swim, bike and run like a triathlete and I was knocking minutes off each discipline and gaining seconds in transitions.
“My time for Ringwood (a standard distance race) last year was 2 hours 40 minutes and I finished 86th out of 131. This year I completed the distance in 2 hours 8 minutes and finished 8th out of 130, a massive difference in a year. After this, my coach and I discussed the world championships – he thought I had a good chance to qualify – so I was in! After months of hard work and a training camp in Lanzarote I achieved my goal.
“I feel extremely honoured and proud to be representing my country at the championships. It is something I would like to do again though, so will continue to try to improve. My fastest time for a sprint distance so far is 1hour 3minutes, I am looking to compete and set a PB in Canada. I am also looking to gain experience of the event as I will be trying to qualify again next year for Chicago.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to all my family, especially my wife for being a constant support and juggling my training schedule with a six month old son. I would also like to thank Richard Smith for all his training support to get me where I am and all those in the Hot Chilli Triathlon Club. Bring on Canada!”
