Olympic hero Alastair Brownlee recently announced his retirement from professional triathlon following an amazing 18-year career at the top of the sport.
However, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic champion still has ambitions in the endurance sports world and has now highlighted a number of events he’d like tackle post-retirement.
In a discussion on the Business of Sport Podcast, which is embedded below, the elder Brownlee brother gave a hint of what the future might hold for one of Yorkshire’s finest talents.
Ultra-sport intrigue
“I want to remain active, I am an athlete, but I am someone who just loves being outside, being active, exploring, adventuring, challenging myself,’ Brownlee said when discussing his post-retirement plans.
“I have had an 18-year career in professional sport, but along that time there has been a number of things I have wanted to have a go at but not been able to, because I’ve been focusing on the next race and that’s been my career.
“I’ve wanted the chance to do those things – ultrarunning, long distance biking, those kind of things. Things that test you in different ways, for me now it’s really most about adventure and pushing myself over a long period of time.
Alistair Brownlee at the Helvellyn Tri in 2023 [Photo credit: Chris Sansom]
“I’d love to do ultrarunning, and probably the biggest single day event in the world is UTMB, or multi-day would be Marathon des Sables, maybe some ultrabike racing. There is kind of a load of different things I’m looking at doing, things that I have wanted to do for a long time.”
Ready for adventure
The discussion dipped further into the world of survival-sport crossover multi-day events that test endurance and mental will to breaking point.
“Those events exist in different guises, you can do multi-day adventure races, you can do in teams where you cross vast waves of countries by cycling, biking, kayaking, swimming.
“The world of bike-packing has just kicked off, these guys are crazy. There’s one in the UK called the ‘British Divide’ who do Land’s End to John O’Groats unsupported over a few weeks.
“Probably the biggest ultrarunning race in the UK is the Spine Race, the winter event has just finished, along the Pennine Way which I think is 250 miles which again is unsupported.
“That world of ultra sport has exploded in recent years, it’s amazing.”
