Four times World Ironman Champion now working for parkrun to get others moving
| Published date | 12 August 2022 |
| Publication title | Daily Star: Web Edition Articles (England) |
“My coach captured it better than I ever could. He said, ‘Physically, you’ve got what it takes, but I’m going to have to chop your head off,’” laughs the 45-year-old, who lives in rural Somerset with her husband and fellow former Ironman Tom Lowe, 44, and their six-year-old daughter Esme.
“It was his way of telling me I had a lot of work to do to hone myself psychologically to be the warrior I needed to be to succeed.”
Some of that work involved overcoming years of disordered eating when Chrissie was a teenager and in her early twenties.
“For years I’d not been consuming enough to sustain even normal metabolic activities, let alone sport. So when I decided I wanted to take triathlon more seriously, I knew I had to empower myself with knowledge about fuelling effectively,” says Chrissie, who gave up her job as a civil servant at 29 to compete professionally.
“It was a long, hard process, but just equipping myself with that understanding and having a performance-related goal overrode the image-related goal I’d had previously.”
Chrissie became the only Ironman triathlete – male or female – to have won the World Championship less than 12 months after turning professional, and remained undefeated throughout her career.
Despite retiring from professional competitions in January 2012, physical activity remains a driving force in Chrissie’s life through her role with parkrun.
The runs – or walks; the pace is up to you – are primarily about having fun, getting fit and removing barriers to physical activity. They’re easy to join, and all fitness levels and abilities are encouraged, with no time limits imposed.
And thanks to National Lottery players, £3.6million has been raised for parkrun over the past eight years. “The National Lottery funding has been instrumental in enabling us to engage many more participants and make parkrun as accessible as possible,” says Chrissie.
“It has allowed us to focus on launching more events, as well as step up our efforts to encourage women and girls, and those with health conditions or from areas of social deprivation to take part.”
Chrissie only has to pop along to one of the 1,147 events taking place around the country each weekend to see how the team’s efforts have paid off. “I’ve seen people of all ages and abilities, including those with health issues and...
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