Accessibility links Mrs Ryding, 37, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was inspired to lose weight when she realised she could no longer fit into her size 16
jeans. Although she hated sports at school, 5ft 10ins Mrs Ryding took up running and lost four stone in four months. She went on to lose over a quarter of her body weight and started looking for something ”more interesting” to challenge her. Mrs Ryding joined a triathlon club and started learning front crawl from scratch at a nearby swimming pool, before moving on to practice in the freezing cold waters of local lakes. She laughed in disbelief when her coach suggested she try out for the world championships – but has now secured a place in the 35-39 age group. Now she is training hard to compete against thousands of other triathletes in the Gold Coast World Triathlon Championships in Australia in September.
Mrs Ryding said she was ”flabbergasted” when she qualified for the event.