A TRIATHLETE from Southbourne has retained her triathlon world champion title for the fourth year in a row at the age of 72.

Sarah Barrett, who has three children and five grandchildren, won the ITU Triathlon Grand Final in the Olympic distance race in her age group for the fourth year running and the sixth time overall, having come first in this year's championship event in Lausanne in Switzerland.

But, having not ran competitively until she was 37 and not starting triathlons until she was 52, Sarah’s route into the sport wasn’t the most conventional.

She said: “Many years ago, me and my husband Colin moved to Ipswich and a lady came up to me and asked if I wanted to join an athletics club and compete in a women’s only 10k road race.

“Back then I hadn’t done much competitive running, but I did it anyway. She dropped out after one session, but I ended up coming third in the race and from then I took off. I did my first marathon within a year and I definitely caught the bug after that.”

Since competing competitively, Sarah has never finished outside of the top 10 in any event she has taken part in since her first event in 2002.

Sarah has been able to devote more time to her training since retiring from her job as a nurse six years ago. Now a member of both the Zoom Tri Club in Bournemouth and David Lloyd Club in Poole, she does her best to keep on top of her fitness.

She continued: “I do try and get out to train as much as I can because as you get older, you need to keep the training going because otherwise your health can deteriorate quickly.

“I am also lucky in that I have rarely been injured, but triathlon is great for that because if you have a knee injury which prevents you running, you can also swim or cycle where there is more resistance. There is always something you can do.”

Sarah, who was recently acknowledged with a Highly Commended certificate from Triathlon England South West, has put her success down to her competitive nature and her sporty upbringing. As she has seen fewer and fewer athletes competing in her age group, Sarah keeps striving to improve and cement her place at the very top in her class.

She said: “People keep saying to me ‘don’t you get bored of winning?’, but you don’t know what is going to happen. There are people from all over the place and there are new people competing and taking part who can surprise you and that is what happened this year.

“There was a new lady who was brilliant on the bike and beat me by around six minutes, but she couldn’t run to save her life and I ended up beating her by 10 minutes.

“Each gold medal is really worthwhile for me because I know the number of hours I have put in to achieving it, and the field is always different so you don’t know who you will be up against.”

Apart from continuing her success in the multisport race, Sarah wants to become a role model for those who think their age or current physical condition prevents them from taking up sporting activity.

“People think that age is a barrier for doing these sports which is absolute rubbish,” said Sarah.

“Just have a go, there is no need to be frightened about it. You can go at your own pace and there are so many benefits to it.”