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British Triathlon Team Qualification Success – Member Inspiring Story – George Bissett

It’s a family connection with our next member story, as we share the success of our lifeguard George Bissett, son of our personal trainer Maija.  George, sixteen, recently found out that he has qualified to be part of the British Triathlon team!  An awesome achievement! 

Many will know or recognize George either from his lifeguard work with us or because he trains in the gym six times a week!  This is in addition to the open water swimming he does at Box End, the road cycling and the 5k park runs at Great Denham – a fit guy! 

George who is currently studying Sports Science at Milton Keynes College has always liked sport and running from a young age. But it was not until he started open water swimming at Box End, Kempston in 2018 that he was encouraged to enter his first triathlon in 2019 and found that this was the event for him!  Since that first event in 2019 he has been hooked and has entered and trained for other sprint triathlons, which involve a 750m swim, a 20k bike ride, and a 5k run. Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to the event season and limited his training but as soon as everything opened up again, he was back on the road, in the water and on the bike and entering all possible events for his age group.   

After a successful 2021, George entered the European qualifiers in Eton in May 2022, which sadly he didn’t qualify for despite a quick finishing time.  But instead of letting this set-back get him down, George trained hard and was ready for the World Qualifiers in September.  George is thankful for his mum and dad’s support and being taxi driver to the events, but for this one they didn’t have to go far as the event was at Box End.  This is obviously somewhere George feels comfortable as his home training ground. He felt good going into the event, had a really great day and was delighted to qualify with a time of one hour and twenty-four minutes. 

Training will start again in earnest for him and the British Team in the New Year working towards the World Championships in Hamburg in July 2023 where he aspires to be in the top twenty and to start getting his name out in the circuit. 

We are sure (as is George) that having an experienced and motivated personal trainer in Maija for his mum has inspired him to focus on fitness and training and to succeed as well as he has so far.  We see her energy in the gym and studios every day and can understand how infectious that would be at home too! 

If anyone is interested in sponsoring George, please do let us know via [email protected]

Congratulations to George from all of us at the Club! We love the commitment and dedication you are showing to your fitness and training.  We will keep you updated on George’s progress! 

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