'Age is just a number': Meet Europe's oldest triathlete representing Wales and Team GB

  • Video report by ITV Wales' Dean Thomas Welch

At 72, Wayne Richards isn't letting the fact he's a pensioner get in the way of chasing personal bests and medals.

"Age is just a number, isn't it?" the Mumbles ironman says with a grin.

Wayne is Europe's oldest triathlete who recently returned from the European Championships last week where he represented Team GB.

What makes Wayne's feat even more remarkable is that he only took up training for triathlons seven years ago, at the age of 65, after a chance encounter with athletes taking part in the Swansea Sprint Triathlon.

Wayne always loved competing and began swimming at the outdoor pool in Ystalyfera when he was a child. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

From that moment he says he was "hooked" and now he's about to represent Wales at the UK Championships later this month.

"It's quite an honour really, I never thought I'd be doing this at my age!", he told ITV Wales News.

Wayne added: "I enjoy it, there is a purpose to my exercise at the moment. Before I was doing triathlons there wasn't much purpose for going to the gym, I used to go just to keep fit. Now the fitness comes naturally, I've never been so fit."

Wayne always loved competing and began swimming at the outdoor pool in Ystalyfera when he was a child.

Wayne Richards has got his focus set on the next European Championships in Istanbul, with no plans to hang up his Team GB vest just yet. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales

His six-day-a-week training regime includes running across Gower, swimming in Langland Bay, and cycling from Mumbles to Neath and over the mountains of the Dulais Valley.

He said: "Today (Monday) is my day off but tomorrow I have to do a swim and a run, well I don't have to do it, I choose to do it!

"The following day I have to ride my bike and so on for the rest of the week until next Monday when I finally get a day off again."

Most competitive athletes contemplate retirement in their mid to late 30s - not Wayne though, he's got his focus set on the next European Championships in Istanbul, with no plans to hang up his Team GB vest just yet.

He added: "My body will tell me when I have to stop and at the moment it's not telling me to stop, so I'll carry on."

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