Profile – Huwie Davies
Having played Rugby Union all my life from the small age of 5, I never thought anything else would give me that sporting buzz – how I was wrong! Locally I am often nick named sport Billy because of my love for all sports, I play golf, tennis, rugby, football etc. At the ripe old age of 35 rugby injuries took their toll and having broken nearly every bone in my body and dislocated shoulders I had no choice but to hang my boots up. No weekend sport to look forward to, no reason to train = a very grumpy old Huwie! That was until a close friend suggested I try doing a triathlon to keep fit… me triathlon?? I cant even swim was my reply!!
However, I like a challenge and decided to enter the local Goole triathlon. At that time I weighed in as a stocky 13 stone rugby player. Having hardly ever swam apart from on holiday I hit the local pool and self taught myself the front crawl. Then the addiction started and I went on the hunt for a road bike. Lastly I had to retrain my rugby legs for some long distance runs… ouch. My first triathlon was a nerve wracking one, but I did it and that was it, I was hooked!! At which point I thought with some dedication I could actually be quite good at this!!
Someone told me that the key was to train hard but to ‘train correctly’ and after joining Lincsquad and meeting one of the best local triathletes on the circuit ‘Steve Clark’ I approached him and asked him if he would coach me and get me to the best of my ability.
I started working with Steve in 2011 for the 2012 season, at which point I remember him saying ‘you need to loose weight’ ah right cheers mate! Working with Steve has been a pleasure as well as hard work, and my achievements have not only seen me placed in the top 10 at races, but the biggest of all was qualifying to represent Team GB in Auckland at the Triathlon Grand Finals 2012 in my age group, and I have only been doing triathlons for about 4 years.
With my dedication and Steve’s coaching I reached my goals, and now weigh in at 10.3 stone. I look forward to continuing to work with Steve in 2013 and to see if I can get some silverware in the trophy cabinet.
I thought my sporting days were over after rugby, but I well and truly have the triathlon buzz, and love the fact that people at the age of 75 were still competing in Auckland . Lets hope we can all say the same at that age!!