Veteran 'Fozzie' wins world title

Brent Foster turned back the clock in an incredible performance belying his 40 plus years with victory at the ITU World Aquathlon Championships in Mexico overnight New Zealand time.

41 year old Foster represented New Zealand in the pool at the 1986 and 1990 Commonwealth Games and competed at the 1998 World Surf Lifesaving Championships. He has also held the record for the quickest swim at Ironman NZ and is a regular at events such as the Stroke and Stride and Sovereign NZ Ocean Swim Series.

The quietly spoken Foster will have sent whoops of delight around the 40 plus brigade in the triathlon and multisport communities with his win, proving that age does note necessarily equate to any loss of speed, in particular as he showed typical determination to out sprint his much younger rival to win the title.

Foster’s success comes on the back of spending three weeks training at altitude in Colorado with Beijing bound triathlete Debbie Tanner.

He becomes the second Kiwi to win the title, joining Shane Reed who won the event three times.