Having first picked up the sport of triathlon whilst working in New Zealand, Ade Grimmond has represented the Great Britain Age-Group Team, overcome cancer and is now hitting PBs and won his age group at the Outlaw Half Holkham at the beginning of July.
His first race in New Zealand was as part of a relay team when he was 28. Now in his 60s, Grimmond has experienced a lot in the world of triathlon and personally in the years since that first race.
“I’m in the sport for longevity because I love it so much,” he commented. “Highlights are the podiums at Windsor over various years, but my best IRONMAN result was in Barcelona, top-ten there and Staffordshire 70.3 in 2016 I won my age group there and went to the World Championships in Australia in Mooloolaba.
“I’ve done quite a few world champs at the Olympic distance, the first one being in Cleveland in 1996, for the Great Britain Age-Group Team and quite a few European championships.
“I was getting regular top-ten finishes but missing out on the podium, then getting on the podium and unbeknownst to me, some of them world qualifiers.”
Having raced well at qualifying races without registering to qualify, one of his friends from another club told him he could have made the team with his time. After that, he deliberately sought out qualifiers to reach the Age-Group Team.
In 2019, Grimmond was diagnosed with prostate cancer and continued training despite reducing what he was doing during his treatment.
“It was about two and a quarter years a go that I was diagnosed,” he said. “When I was having the treatment I was very tired some mornings at swimming or just didn’t’ have the legs on the bike, but I was determined to see how much I could carry on and be sensible about listening to my body.
“I just pushed on through I suppose and stayed with Medway Tri, helping other club members who were asking advice on events and things and new members were coming in to try new things. It was good because it took my mind off things a lot.”
Having come out of remission earlier in 2021, Grimmond raced at the Cotswold 113 with a number of his clubmates from Medway Tri, setting a new PB.
“I totally shocked myself,” Grimmond exclaimed. “18 months after my last race or possibly a bit more, a few of us did the Cotswolds and I was the oldest member of our little group, and to my astonishment I was the top sixty-year-old and over and beat most of the fifty-year-olds.
“I smashed my 90km bike time, PB’d, it was crazy. The emotion when I came across the line was amazing. I wanted to see where I was, how is my fitness, how am I going to be in a race situation, the strain of the race and trying to pace it again.”
He backed this up by coming top in his age group at the Outlaw Half Holkham, crossing the line in a time of 05:13:37 almost five minutes ahead of second place in the 60-64 category.
“Hopefully, I’ll go back to the Age-Group qualifiers next year to be able to fit those in as well, and try and arrange the diary,” Grimmond added.
“There’s an attraction there because being part of the Age-Group Team is lovely, there’s a great atmosphere and everything outside of that.”
Qualifiers to be part of the Great Britain Age-Group Team are taking place throughout this year. To find out more about representing the Age-Group Team, follow the link below to find out more and register for a qualifier.
