A CHAMPION Muay Thai fighter is among those who will line up to contest the Iron Man event in Port Macquarie on Sunday.
Gold Coast-based Evan Morris is a champion fighter who broke his arm two years ago competing for an Australian title, which made him put his fighting career on hold and start triathlon.
Muay Thai is known as “the art of eight limbs”. This is because fighters have eight weapons at their disposal in a fight; fists, knees, elbows and feet. It’s a brutal form of fighting that takes a special kind of bravery from combatants, just to step in the ring.
While there is some synergy between sports in that both require dedication and the ability to ignore pain there are many differences, as Morris was quick to discover.
“Muay Thai involves high intensity intervals of exercise, whereas I found triathlons involve more endurance training,” Morris said.
He was introduced to triathlon two years ago by sister-in-law Lucy Shewell but only started competing last year.
“Lucy is a talented and competitive triathlete and has been competing for years, she was always asking me to train with her,” Morris said.
“My father-in-law is a mad cycling enthusiast and he has encouraged, motivated and helped me immensely in the bike leg of the sport, so it was a natural progression from there.”
The variety of training triathlon offers has made a welcome change from the repetitive nature of Muay Thai for Morris.
“I honestly thought the transition into triathlons would be easy. But it was like I was beginning all over again! The running training that I did to keep fit for my fights really helped me have a good base fitness to begin with. However, I had to work extremely hard on the swimming and riding legs of the event.”
The Iron Man 70.3 Port Macquarie will take place this Sunday, 20 October.
Athletes have to complete a 1.9km swim; 90km cycle and a 21.1km run.
For further information visit www.ironmanportmacquarie.com
