Inspiring his students, West Hill PE teacher Mike Park travelled to Slovakia to take on the World Triathlon Championships.

Gaining weight after suffering a motorbike accident 15 years ago, Mike took up triathlon as a way to keep fit, but never imagined the journey the sport would take him on.

In 2012, he and friends completed a charity triathlon, raising money for children with cancer. From this moment onwards, he realised just how much he loved the sport, so long-distance triathlon became his calling.

But it doesn’t come without hard work. In a regular training week, Mike swims and runs three times and cycles four times, equating to 15 hours of exercise.

As a PE teacher, Mike’s days are often full-on, meaning it’s rare he leaves school before 5pm, or 7pm when fixtures are on. This calls for early morning training sessions even before he gets to work.

Arriving in Slovakia to take on the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships, Mike felt apprehensive yet excited. The amateur level competition is ran alongside the elite athletes, allowing Mike to compete with competitors from all over the globe.

“The swim took place in the river Danube, which was massive and quite daunting.

“It was an amazing experience to represent the country and run around with the Great Britain flag on my kit,” Mike said.

With a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18k run, Mike crossed the finish line in an impressive 4:39:43, leaving him in 14th place.

Coaching his students on the importance of physical activity, Mike believes it is vital that he sets a good example for them.

“It’s important that I try to be active and lead by example. We do a lot of sport at school, whether that’s rugby, cricket or cross country, there’s a multitude of sport options and we encourage as many boys as possible to get involved.

“We often lead ParkRun sessions for the boys, and they attract 20-30 students. It’s important for them to see that staff take part in sport, teachers should be role models.

“We really do want everyone to get involved in sport and we often do well at West Hill due to our huge participation levels,” he said.

He also encourages people to take part in triathlon. His advice to any new athletes is to start slow.

“Don’t try and run too far on your first run, there’s some great triathlon clubs locally and the triathlon community is not as daunting as you may think.

“The community is welcoming of all shapes and sizes and the fulfilment when you cross the finish line makes it all worth it.”

Want more local sports stories? 

Head to https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/sport/ to see more of our coverage - from community and non-league football to local and county cricket, boxing, athletics, basketball, Esports and golf.