04/08/2026
🌟 FLAIR Athlete Spotlight – Sarah & Colin 🌟
What started as a neighbour's suggestion to try a duathlon has grown into an incredible journey of dedication, achievement, and international competition. From their first race in Hereford to representing Great Britain at European and World Championship events around the world, Sarah and Colin have embraced every challenge along the way.
Here's their story in their own words:
"Our journey to the FLAIR programme started in 2018 when a neighbour noticed we enjoyed running and suggested we might enjoy doing a 'Duathlon'. We'd never heard of it before and when he explained it involved running, cycling, running we laughed politely and thought that was the end of it.
Turns out, he had planned to lend us some road bikes so we could join him and before we knew it we were stood on the start line of Hereford Duathlon. Running was fine and even cycling didn't feel too bad but nobody had prepared us for what it feels like to then attempt to run again. Running 'off the bike' is one of the strangest sensations you can attempt for the first time but our legs did eventually forgive us and we both crossed the finish line with big smiles.
We began to look for more races, then we bought our own bikes, then we began to increase the distance. During this time we started attending Malvern Splash more regularly. What started as the odd spin class in 2016 began to grow to regular strength and conditioning classes, spin classes and swimming.
We started doing short distance Triathlons as well as Duathlons and in 2023 made the decision to look at Age Group Racing with British Triathlon.
There are both European and World Championships each year which require you to qualify in the UK. It's a brilliant way of combining travelling with racing and we have been to Ibiza, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Australia to compete. Each Championship has been unique and is always part of a week of Multisport races with an Opening and Closing Ceremony which offers some pretty unique entertainment. All of the athletes take part in a parade of nations and we have met many athletes from countries all around the world. In fact, Colin still says his favourite moment is disrupting what had looked like an all Aussie podium in 2024.
Having the support of FLAIR has been essential to this. Not only to encourage us to commit to our training, but we have met brilliant members of staff who have helped and encouraged us, often getting more from us than we thought was possible. Turning up to Malvern Splash after a long day at work to be greeted with smiles from reception and words of encouragement has made a hard training session feel a lot better.
With the connected membership we have also been able to balance work with a daily training schedule by using the gym nearer to work, which makes a big difference to making the most of the time in our day.
We are really grateful to the ongoing support of everyone at Freedom Leisure. We have been able to achieve everything so far using our local gym and we still love to participate in local races because you can't beat the atmosphere of a local event.
All being well, we head to Abu Dhabi this November for the 2026 World Championships, but even already we are looking to qualify for Canada next year. Thanks again to FLAIR for helping us continue the adventure."
👏 Congratulations Sarah & Colin, and thank you for sharing your inspiring journey with the FLAIR community. We wish you the very best for Abu Dhabi and beyond!
