Meet our triathlon champion

A world triathlon champion will be staging a training camp in the kingdom, the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East.

Lesley Paterson has been appointed as one of Bahrain Triathlon Club’s (BTC) professional ambassadors and will be based in Bahrain for a week from October 31, along with her husband, Simon.

The triathlon camp will be run by their Braveheart Coaching Company and Paterson will return in December to participate in the much-anticipated Challenge Bahrain in BTC colours!

Originally from Scotland but now living in San Diego – the home of triathlon – Paterson is a three-time world triathlon champion. But she doesn’t stop there – she is also a coach, entrepreneur, screen-writer and film producer.

Paterson has been described as ‘a little Scottish lassie who packs a mean punch!’ While growing up, her passion was rugby. She said: “I loved to get dirty and I loved to fight boys. Being the only girl out of 250 boys in the squad, I learned pretty quickly how to take care of myself!” 

However, as with most good things in life, it came to an abrupt end. Paterson was too old to play with the boys, so found an equally crazy sport called triathlon. Since the tender age of 14 she has competed all over the globe for the British and Scottish triathlon teams, developing friendships and seeing some amazing parts of the world.

She had dreams of qualifying for the Olympics, but her poor swim performance made it impossible to do well in draft-legal races such as the ITU, which are needed to qualify for the Olympics. 

After failing to qualify for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, which she described as her ‘lowest moment’, she decided to give up triathlon, disillusioned with the sport.
 
It was a short while later that Paterson met her future husband, Simon Marshall, and together they moved out to San Diego. It is ironic that Paterson should give up triathlon when actually moving to the birthplace of the sport. Simon had obtained a job as a Professor or Exercise Science at San Diego State University.

Always having a creative side to her – she has a BA degree in drama – Paterson decided to follow a Master’s degree in Theatre. She flourished under her new found career path and began climbing the next impossible ladder to success … Hollywood!

Paterson explained: “I started acting in student films and then independent films. So far I have 17 of them under my belt. Then I met my now writing-producing partner Ian Stokell, and together we formed our own production company called Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment Inc. We have since produced several short films and our first feature called Something Blue won numerous awards at festivals. I enjoyed the ‘business’ of film more so than the acting and now that’s where my film life has now taken me!”

Through all of this soul searching and artistic expression, and a period of five years of no sport, Paterson realised she missed the adrenaline of competing. She said: “I started slowly with running, my principal strength, and after winning a few races found that I had a different approach to the sport. 

“I genuinely enjoyed training, I genuinely enjoyed racing and what’s more, my body felt different. It felt more mature and I guess I had a better understanding of how it worked.” 

Paterson decided to give up the ‘drafting’ races (drafting is the term used when one or more cyclists are following a cyclist in front, thereby reducing wind resistance and conserving energy. Drafting is legal is some forms of shorter-distance triathlons). She found XTERRA – the off-road form of triathlons involving dirt, hills and ‘cool people’ as Paterson puts it!

Paterson did not take up triathlon again until 2007, when on returning to Scotland for a summer holiday she entered the Scottish National Championships, and won the race.

This success revived her desire to race triathlons, and when she discovered XTERRA, she thought: “It looked muddy, so I thought I’d give it a crack!”
 
She obtained an elite licence, and attempted her first XTERRA race in 2008 in Temecula, California, using a second-hand mountain bike. In that race she gained the lead on the bike stage, but struggled on the run stage through not taking in sufficient nutrition and was reduced to a walk. Despite that, she still managed to finish ninth. She added: “I had surprised myself because I saw that I could compete.”

Most importantly, through understanding herself, Paterson was able to form her own philosophy of training for endurance sport. This came about through teaming up with a now friend and coach, Vince Fichera. He taught her a way of training that revolutionised how she approached things and resulted in what she now calls her ‘special sauce’.

“It is with this special sauce that I developed my own coaching business, Braveheart Coaching,” she added.

With a new coach, she won a silver medal at the 2009 XTERRA World Championships and another silver at the 2010 Ironman 70.3 California, followed by a victory at her hometown race, the San Diego International Triathlon. In February 2011 she joined the Trek/K-Swiss team, then achieved three consecutive victories at the 2011 XTERRA Pacific Championships in Santa Cruz, the 2011 Orange County International Triathlon, and 2011 Ironman 70.3 Mooseman in New Hampshire, her first victory at the 70.3 (or half Ironman) distance.

In October 2011, Paterson won the XTERRA World Championship in Kapalua, Maui, despite suffering a flat tyre on the bike stage, and falling on the run stage. She recorded a run time of 43:54, almost 10 minutes faster than Lance Armstrong, whose presence had led to increased publicity for the race.

In an interview after the race, Paterson indicated that her health had been affected by Lyme disease. The three-time XTERRA champion Melanie McQuaid, who had led for most of the race and was overtaken by Paterson with less than a mile to go, collapsed 400 yards from the finish and required medical treatment. Paterson repeated her achievement as champion in 2012, winning by almost four minutes over Bárbara Riveros.

With three off-road triathlon world titles to her name, Paterson now wants to impart her wisdom to help others reach their potential alongside her husband, Dr Marshall, a sport psychologist and internationally-renowned expert in exercise, physical activity and health. 

He has published more than 90 scientific articles and book chapters about the science of health behaviour change and has been the recipient of over $25million in federal research grants examining how to help people live active, healthier and happier lives though physical activity and exercise.
 
Dr Marshall is a frequent invited keynote speaker at international conferences on physical activity, exercise and health, and has served as an invited expert panelist for the US National Institutes of Health and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 

At Braveheart Coaching, he helps triathletes of all abilities improve their mental game plan – helping them to become less nervous and more confident by increasing their mental toughness for swimming, biking and running.

A spokesman for Bahrain Triathlon Club said members were ‘delighted’ to announce the Braveheart Coaching Camp, to be held from October 31 to November 2. 

The camp includes around 25 hours of expert instruction for swimming, cycling and running, including talks and Q&A sessions about race strategy, nutrition, pacing, and ‘brain training’ sessions, offering insights into the mental side of participating in long distance triathlons. 

From beginners to podium contenders, this camp will help you swim, bike and run faster than ever before, the club promises. There are limited spaces available. For more information email bahraintriathlon@gmail.com or visit www.bahraintri.com.

Paterson says she is ‘grateful to Bahrain Triathlon Club’ for offering her the opportunity to become its ambassador for the 2014/2015 season. Bahrain Triathlon Club is grateful to its sponsors for the 2014/2015 season, namely Apache Capital, Elian, Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, InTouch Clinic, McLaren Group, Propel Consult, Reza Hygiene and Trowers & Hamlins. BTC is also grateful to Bahrain Rugby Football Club and St Christopher’s School for the use of their facilities during the camp.

* For more information on Challenge Bahrain visit www.challenge-bahrain.com.bh