Simon Lessing

Simon Lessing

Simon Lessing at Lake Placid
Medal record
Men's Triathlon
Competitor for  Great Britain
ITU World Championships
Gold	1992 Huntsville	Individual
Gold	1995 Cancún	Individual
Gold	1996 Cleveland	Individual
Gold	1998 Lausanne	Individual
Silver	1993 Manchester	Individual
Silver	1999 Montreal	Individual
Bronze	1997 Perth	Individual
ITU Long Distance World Championships
Gold	1995	Individual
ETU European Championships
Gold	1991	Individual
Gold	1993	Individual
Gold	1994	Individual
Ironman World Championship 70.3
Silver	2006	Individual
Goodwill Games
Gold	1994 St Petersburg Russia	Individual
Gold	1998 New York USA	Individual

Simon Christopher Lessing, MBE, (born 12 February 1971) is a British triathlete who won five International Triathlon Union (ITU) world titles (1992, 1995(2), 1996 and 1998).^[1] He also won races at 70.3, ITU long distance and Ironman-distance events. He set an Olympic-distance world record in 1996, and is noted for his 2004 Ironman Lake Placid win, where he set a course record of 8:23:12. In 2008 he retired from professional racing.^[2] Simon resides in Boulder, Colorado, United States,^[1] where he operates Boulder Coaching with Darren de Reuck.^[3]

Athletic career

Early years

Born in Cape Town, Western Cape South Africa, Lessing completed school at Kloof High School in Durban. Table Mountain was the backdrop to his formative years. His father and mother (who was a swim coach) supported him. By the end of his fifth year at school, he had won honors in swimming, sailing and biathlon and was known as a cross-country runner. When Lessing was 9, his family moved to Durban, a port city set on the East Coast.

Growing up, surfing and rugby were two of the major sports in Durban, but Lessing resisted the pressure to make the change to these activities. He trained an average of 3 hours a day in his areas of interest: sailing, swimming, track, cross-country and duathlon.^{[citation needed]} He developed an interest in hiking and hiked in the Drakensberg Mountain range. His swim coach, David McCarney, encouraged Lessing to try a family oriented race he organized at Kloof High School. In 1988, Lessing was the South African triathlon champion.^[2] He was selected to represent South Africa in a biathlon but suffered a broken leg in an accident during a local triathlon.^{[citation needed]}

Lessing moved to Britain at age 18 and continued his international sporting career in Europe. He was entitled to dual citizenship because his mother was born in England.

Professional racing

During the 1990s he and rival Spencer Smith, were among some of the most successful athletes in Olympic distance triathlon. Lessing won the ITU Olympic Distance Triathlon World Championship in 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1998. In 1996, Lessing broke the Olympic distance triathlon world record with a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50 seconds in 1996 at the ITU Triathlon World Championships in Cleveland.^[4]

Lessing competed in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon held annually in San Francisco Bay. He has won the men's elite division there three times: 1996, 2003 and 2004. Lessing competed at the first Olympic games triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He took ninth place with a total time of 1:49:24.32.^[1]

Long course racing

Simon Lessing in the bike portion of a triathlon

Lessing's first attempt at long course triathlon took place in 1993 on the Nice triathlon course, in the Côte d'Azur. In the race he stayed with 9-time defending champion Mark Allen until within 5 kilometers of the finish. He went on to win the Nice race in 1995.

Lessing has won numerous Ironman 70.3 races, including the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Florida in 2004, and again in 2005. In 2005, he set a then course record at the Wildflower triathlon.^[5] The next year he took first place at the Ironman 70.3 Vineman. In August 2007 Lessing won the Ironman Timberman 70.3.

Ironman

Simon Lessing running a triathlon

Lessing qualified for the 2004 Ironman World Championships with a 1st place win and course record at Ironman Lake Placid in July 2004, where he set a course record of 8:23:12. In his first appearance at the Ironman World Championships (2004) he dropped out halfway into the bike leg, due to the high winds and problems with his back.

Lessing did not complete the marathon at the 2005 Ironman Couer d'Alene and failed to qualify there for Ironman World Championship. He raced again the same summer and qualified for the World Championships by taking 4th place at Ironman Canada in Penticton in a time of 8:43:13. He did not complete the marathon at the 2005 World Championships.

References

External links

• Official website