Husband and wife team up for Para Tri event
Sophie and Adrian West are preparing to take on their greatest challenge yet. The married couple have signed up for a Para Tri event together, which takes place on 9 August at Dorney Lake, Windsor.
Sophie and her husband are entering the Full Para Tri Relay as a team of two – a 750m swim, a 20k cycle and a 5k run. Eager to show her motivation, Sophie got back on a bike for the first time in six years when she heard about Para Tri. Determined to complete the swim and the cycle stages, she will hand over to her husband Adrian for last run stage.
It finally means we are doing a triathlon together, albeit not in the way we ever anticipated when we discussed it all those years ago.
The new mass-participation para-triathlon has inspired doctor-turned-patient Sophie to get back on a bike and fulfill her sporting dream. Dr Sophie West, a radiologist from London, had always dreamed of doing a triathlon with her husband Adrian. They started training six years ago, determined to complete this sporting challenge as a couple.
As soon as she started to train, Sophie realised that there was something seriously wrong with her left hip. The pain increased and Sophie’s ability to walk, let alone run, decreased rapidly over a period of months. She discovered that she has two congenital conditions- hip dysplasia and Mitochondrial disorder.
Sophie underwent major surgery and needs regular visits to the hospital to control her symptoms. She explains:
‘In the past six years, I have undergone 13 operations including three intensive care admissions and I now have a semi-permanent IV line which sits on my chest and goes straight into my heart’
Sophie continues to work full time, has published a book on her condition and has taken up a new sport- even with a need for regular hospital admission three to four times a year,
‘Never one to let anything get the better of me (despite my body trying really hard!), I was inspired by London 2012 to start swimming. I now have a British para-swimming classification and race at an international and national level.’
When Sophie read about Para Tri, the UK’s first mass-participation triathlon dedicated to disabled people, she was over the moon.
I saw it as the opportunity to achieve what my husband and I had set out to do before our lives got completely turned upside down.
