Brent McMahon

It would be fair to say Brent McMahon has done it all in his long and successful triathlon career to date.

He has taken part at Olympic Games in both Athens and London, won an ITU Triathlon World Cup event, been an XTERRA champion, an IRONMAN 70.3 champion and a full IRONMAN champion.

His 2014 full-distance success in Arizona came complete with the fastest time ever by a rookie, whilst his 7:46 in Brazil in 2016 remains one of the fastest in history.

McMahon was always the perfect candidate to become an elite triathlete, having participated in several sports as a child, including swimming, biking and running. He first put them together to take part in a triathlon at the tender age of 10.

Brent met his first and only coach Lance Watson when he was 15, and Watson encouraged him to pursue triathlon full-time after moving on from the team sports he had been playing. From there he went from the development team to the national team and on to two Olympics and now IRONMAN.

Of the three disciplines, the bike is favourite for Brent and the swim the least appealing.

He says: “There are so many places and distances you can go riding and I love mountain biking.

“Swimming is great but your ability to see and enjoy your surroundings isn’t the same.”

Brent calls Maui his favourite training and holiday destination, as he is able to relax whilst training and enjoy the sunset knowing he has another day of relaxation tomorrow.

When Brent eventually does retire, he wants to help the development of triathletes and encourage young athletes in their goals and continue to inspire people to get active and be healthy.

If he has one piece of advice for up-and-coming triathletes, it would be to always find a way to race with your heart, so you never lose motivation to keep pushing.