THREE years of postponements couldn't keep one York man from triathlon success.

Matt Rylatt, 60, from Heworth is and member of York Triathlon Club and won his age group category in the Dalesman Triathlon in Ripon.

The retired civil servant, who worked at Defra in York, completed the challenge of a 2.5 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile cycle, and a 26.2 mile run, finishing a whole hour ahead of the second place, on August 22.

Although he also had to exercise his mental strength and stay resilient, after encountering three years’ of postponements – starting with a foot injury halfway through his eight months’ training for the Copenhagen Ironman Triathlon n 2018, which worsened after competing for GB in the European sprint duathlon age group championships in Romania.

Matt said: “It was tough, there was no way I could run, but I had to bike and swim to still train”

He then had to postpone both the Ironman challenge and York Marathon until 2020 – but the pandemic meant further delay.

This year, due to the Copenhagen Ironman challenge looking up in the air due to Covid travel restrictions and a10 day isolation period, he decided to enter the Dalesman Triathlon in Ripon.

The long wait was worthwhile, as not only was Matt finally able to complete the race, but he finished in a time of 12 hours 57 minutes, winning his age group category by a whole hour ahead of second place - and winning a Betty’s gift box as a prize.

“I was just delighted to finish it, and I was totally unaware that I had done so well, as we all started it at different times.

“The race itself wasn’t as bad as I had feared, although I had had enough of the amount of training I had to do.”

Matt’s next challenges are the York Marathon next month, and says the World Duathlon is “on the cards”.