Will Wright - Scotland

Will is a Level 3 qualified Personal Trainer and Massage Therapist and comes from an endurance sports background; having competed at Elite level in Cross County Mountain Biking and winning the Scottish Mountain Bike Series in 2006. After switching to triathlon several years ago he’s picked up several championship titles including Scottish Middle Distance Champion and Scottish Off Road Champion. He won a Bronze medal at the Long Distance European Championships in Finland in 2011 and has qualified for the World Championships in Spain in 2012.

Will is probably the most remote athlete in the British Isles living on the isle of Tiree - find out more about Will @ www.tireefitness.co.uk

Tom Newman - UK

I started out in triathlon after completing my first London marathon in 2008 having previously never swum or ridden a bike in competition. Since then I have raced both triathlon and duathlon all over the world with highlights being my age group win and 20th position overall at Challenge Henley in 2011, second place at the Enduroman festival of triathlon in Lanzarote and representing GBR at both short course and long course championships amongst various other successes on home soil.

I have missed one complete season due to injury after a bike accident and another after a knee injury at Ironman Lanzarote in 2010 so my goals and ambitions for 2013 are to build up to Ironman UK where I aim to qualify for the Ironman World Champs in Hawaii!

Nicki Aitken - UK

Runner turned triathlete who is passionate about training and racing. “We all have dreams but in order to turn those dreams into reality, it takes determination, dedication and discipline” – Jesse Owens

Athletic Career Highlights:**
Virgin London Marathon 2010 – UKA Gold Medal Winner
Florence Marathon 2011 – 3rd British lady
Berkshire 10km Championships 2011 – 1st
Maxifuel Marlow Half Ironman 2012 – 2nd lady, 2nd Age Group (first triathlon)
Challenge Henley Half Ironman 2012 – 3rd lady, 2nd Age Group, fastest run split (82 min 23)
F3 Events Thames Series Swim 2012, Windsor 3.8km – 3rd lady (first OW Swim)
Represented Berkshire Fire and Rescue, Fire-Fighter World Championships, Challenge Roth 2012.

Personal Best Times:**
10km – 37.17
Half Marathon – 82.55
Marathon – 2:54:01
Half Ironman – 4:50:44 (35 min swim, 2hr 45 bike, 82.23 run)

**All results above have been achieved with no coaching.

Targets for 2013/2014:
GB Age Group representational honours at ITU World Long Course Triathlon Championships, 1st/2nd June (France)
Ironman France, Nice – 23rd June
Qualification, Kona, Ironman World Championships

Follow Nicki's progress throughout the season @ www.swimbikerundream.wordpress.com 

Mat Stephenson – UK

Ironman and Quadrathlete

‘You’re only as good as your last race’

2012 Results
1st British Quadrathlon Champion
1st European Quadrathlon Champion
5th World Quadrathlon Championships
1st National Trophy Quadrathlon series
3rd Brigg Adventure Race
1st Brigg Bomber Quadrathlon(inc National and European Championships)
1st Box End off-road Quadrathlon
2nd Bude Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon
4th World Quadrathlon series
1st Brigg Bomber Quadrathlon(inc National and European Championships)
5th World Quadrathlon Championships (Czech Republic)
2nd Bude Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon
1st Spalding Sprint Triathlon
4th Grantham Sprint Triathlon

Previous history
Predominantly my strengths lie in long distance triathlons having competed in five Ironman events with four sub-10 hour races including the World Ironman Championships in Kona. I also made the podium in Ironman South Africa taking 2nd place. My Ironman pb is 9:19:21.

I have represented Great Britain at aquathlon, duathlon, standard distance and long distance triathlon at World Championship events. My best place has been a bronze medal in aquathlon(Honolulu) and two top-ten places in the long course triathlon.

Nationally I have a silver medal in middle distance triathlon (Bala) and a gold in the Club relays.

I am a strong swimmer but not the best and benefit greatly in wetsuit and open water swims. I’m not usually the fastest in one discipline but can manage to string three or more sports into one race to come out with a satisfactory result.

Participating in quadrathlon during the past two years has enabled me to learn a new discipline of kayaking. I was 2nd in the National Championships at my first attempt and 5th and 7th at the European and World Championships respectively.

For 2013 my focus is back on Ironman (Melbourne Mar 13) and my intention is to qualify for the World Ironman Championships again. I also intend to qualify for the GB team at standard distance. I intend to defend my quadrathlon titles.

Darren Sharpe - UK

2012 Results
Hull Sprint 3rd overall
Grantham Sprint 2nd overall
Brize Norton Sprint 2nd overall
Odiham Sprint 1st overall
Cranwell Sprint (Royal Air Force Championships) 1st overall and series winner with 2 first places and one second.
Dambuster Triathlon (World Champs qualifier) 2nd in AG 14th overall
Beaver Middle Distance 3rd in AG 13th overall
British National Championships Middle Distance 2nd in AG (National Silver medal) 12th overall
Long Distance World Championships - Spain - 10th in AG 44th overall
Lanzarote 70.3 5th in AG (Qualified for 70.3 World Champs - Vegas) 50th overall
British Military Champs 7th overall

2013 Plans
I am considering doing the TT Triathlon (the Isle of Man's first Iron distance race) but the other route I am looking at is the National Sprint Championships as I have a National Middle distance silver from this year, a National Standard distance silver from 2011 so it would be nice to get a National sprint medal to make a full collection. I will be looking to do the RAF Sprint series again with an aim to be the RAF Champion for the 4th year running.