Calling It a Day

I am writing this blog today inform you that I have decided to call it a day and retire from being a full time professional athlete. It hasn’t been an easy decision but I think now is the right time for me. Over the past 3 months I have been really struggling with a Viral Infection and basically have not been able to live a normal life, let alone train as a full time athlete. This has been the final straw. I have known for a while that my body was starting to struggling to cope with the amount of training required to compete at the elite level. I have had to change the way I train and be a lot smarter in my preparation. I have no doubt that the illness I have been suffering from has been a direct result of continually pushing my body to the limit. I am now at a stage that I don’t think my body will hold together to allow me to compete at the level that I want to. All good things must come to an end.

I write this with a touch of sadness but with a hole lot of happiness and joy in what I have been able to achieve along the way. For basically 14 years I have been travelling the world competing at sporting events ranging from small events in rural Europe to the Olympic Games in China. I am proud of what I have achieved and I am proud that I had the courage to switch sports and start all over again. Even though I have not achieved what I set out to in Triathlon, I gave it a red hot go and that is fine with me.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful sponsors who have shown great confidence, continual encouragement and provided the best products available. To Champion System Australia, Huub and Hammer Nutrition thanks for believing in me and being an important part of my team. To Merida Bikes, thanks for being the first sponsor on board when I switched to Triathlon and showing great confidence in my ability. To New Balance Australia, I can not thank you enough for sticking with me from my days as a middle distance runner. I was able to do it all in the best shoe's available. Finally I would like to thank the team at Flight Centre Active Travel and the whole Flight Centre group for your long standing support. For 14 years you have supported my sporting ambitions and for this I am in your debt.

I could never give up training all together, it has been my life for so long and I enjoy it. For me now it will be for the purpose of being fit and healthy. I will still participate in events and give it my best but my training will definitely not be at the same level.

Thanks for the ride.

Mitch