Sixty-year-old Gareth Price turned his health around later in life, completing three Ironman as well as marathon, mountain and cycling challenges in his 50s, and hopes to help others do the same after setting up his gym V1ntage in 2011.
He said:
“Every day, I count my blessings. I work hard and only do things I enjoy. I made that choice in 2009 when I grabbed the opportunity with both hands to take a redundancy package from my job of 25 years. Go back two more years and I was 20 stone and spent the majority of most days in my car driving all over the UK.
I finally got the message. I trained hard and climbed Kilimanjaro which I found quite easy despite the altitude. It was just a start. I love the buzz of crossing the finish line knowing it’s something the majority of the population simply wouldn’t even try. I am passionate about cycling and spinning.
When the football and squash ended in my mid-thirties, I thought competitive sport was the be all and end all. I just got lazy and I just got fat! I’m 60 now and never been so active my entire life, even when I was at school.
I feel great, not just physically but mentally. It’s too easy to say, I’ll start my ‘new’ regime soon, when you’re unused to doing regular exercise. I should know, I did too much talking about it, for way too many years!
My one regret. I didn’t get back to active sooner!”