Episode 110 Robert Holloway

This episode features Robert Holloway, who has been in our sport for 35 years.

Robert says  " I played football to a reasonable standard until I was 16 and like most kids of my
generation I was very active either doing a 3 mile walk to school there and back and
then kicking a ball around when I got home.
Not much happened sport’s wise until early 1984 when my colleagues at work dared me to compete in the Civil Service and Post Office half marathon at Windsor Great Park. Training was slow to start with but I persevered and finished in a time of 1hr 34m. Those in the know told me that that was a good time for a newbie so then decision was taken to give this running lark a go. I joined my local running club, Woking AC, and was soon taking part in a number of local road races. By 1986 In had built up my training volume to have a crack at the full marathon distance. I chose the 1986 Abingdon marathon to pop my marathon cherry and finished in a time of 2hrs 54m. That time gave me the incentive to pursue marathon running as my preferred distance and in 1987 my crowning glory came at the London Marathon when I clocked 2hrs 42m. I then set my sights on breaking the 2hrs 40m barrier but all those weeks of 100 mile training took their toll and it was a case of managing one lower leg injury after another.
My road running days were not what they used to be but rescue came in the form of a running magazine article on this new fangled sport called triathlon. I could clearly run a bit and always enjoyed swimming and could ride a bike so why not give it ago? I entered the Wokingham Try a Tri sprint triathlon in 1989. I. I can’t recall my time but I must have enjoyed it because some 35 years later I am still competing in triathlon and multisport.

In 2009 not only my triathlon World but my Whole World collapsed around me. It turned out that I had suffered a major bilateral pulmonary embolism preceded by a blood clot that had found its way into both of my lungs. Needless to
say my triathlon days were put on hold.

In good time I got back into something like normal training but didn’t compete until 2014 when, on a whim, I entered the Hever Castle sprint triathlon. To my
astonishment I came home with an age group win and another trophy for the cabinet! I continued to train and compete at a reasonable standard but in 2016 at age 62 I decided that I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve in the sport and called it a day. Or so I thought!
Turning the clock forward to 2019 and the onset of covid, I was still working full time but without any sporting activity for about three years or so I had managed to put on almost four stone over my normal racing weight of ten stone. I was soon working from home and the temptation to go out for a run in the vain hope of losing weight became too strong.
As the weight melted away I discovered that I was pretty useful on the bike and the run so much so that within a year I had qualified for and competed in the World Duathlon Championships in Aviles. Other championship events followed in Bilbao, Ibiza and more recently, Coimbra where I achieved my best ever finish of fifth place and third Brit home in the 70-74 age group.

I have my eyes on a 70.3 event in 2026, possibly Jeselo, and in 2027 I would hope
to qualify for the World multisport championships in Edmonton, Canada. I also want to experiment with aquabike and aquathlon.

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