This week I return to the theme of Legends of British Triathlon and our first female guest, Sarah Coope.  Sarah was a 6 time European champion over all distances from Standard (1) to Ironman (2).  She was also the first GB female to make it onto the podium at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, finishing third behind Paula Newby-Fraser and Erin Baker. Since retiring from competition in the mid 90’s, Sarah has maintained a presence in triathlon as a coach with her longtime partner Glenn Cook, running Team Bodyworks Performance Triathlon in Eastbourne.

This is another great chat and as you’ll hear at the end Sarah enjoyed reminiscing some of her triathlon experiences including:

The importance of play in the development of youth and junior athletes

How a serious crash with a car led to her first triathlon bike and the start of a successful tri career

Racing at the Home Nations event in N. Ireland and training with a security escort

Sarah’s first wetsuit swim at the Nice International triathlon in France, a perfect example of why you should never try anything new on race day

Completing her first Ironman having consumed just water

Training in San Diego, the mecca of triathlon, in the late 80’s

Just because you finish third in Kona doesn’t mean you have the perfect race

The challenges of coaching junior athletes

To find out more about Sarah’s coaching work please visit the website, https://www.teambodyworks.com/ or the Facebook page Team Bodyworks XTC.

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email [email protected].