Allan Dowell is a competitive triathlete who made the podium in his first race. He also competes in cycling time trials, road racing, and running events. Not considering himself a natural athlete, Allan struggled with his weight from childhood. It wasn’t until he set his goal at achieving his dream job as a fire fighter that a keen interest in fitness and nutrition prevailed; running, cycling and resistance training were discovered; and over 25 kilos were lost.

It wasn’t easy at first. Being too embarrassed to let people see him train, Allan would go running at 5:00am, as he thought that people would ridicule him. He persevered and eventually dropped his weight and body fat. Having achieved his goal, Allan had a newfound confidence and level of fitness that superseded his expectations. This led to him to push the limits in running, covering all distances up to marathon.

It was a natural progression from running and cycling through to triathlon. All the hard work spent training and diligently studying the sport led to a podium spot in the first race, which was a sprint distance. Allan’s second race was an Ironman, further growing his confidence.

Allan is now looking to augment his racing and move into coaching to share the knowledge he has gained and to instill the confidence in others that providing you are willing to work hard and never give up then you can achieve your goals no matter how hard they appear to be.