AN athlete from Chagford is hoping to complete his dream of qualifying for next year’s Ironman World Championships, Kona 2017, in Hawaii.

Brennan Townshend, aged 22, is hoping to compete at next year’s championships in what would be just his second season in racing triathlons.

A desire to go as far as he could in the world of sport began for Brennan at the age of 15.

He started running long distance events in athletics and cross country, winning lots of his races. He then switched to cycling and won the Junior Tour of Wales, Britain’s most prestigious junior cycling race. He counts himself in illustrious company, with established cyclists Geraint Thomas, Alex Dowsett, Dan Martin and Johan Van Summeren among the past winners of the event.

Following this victory he raced professionally for high profile teams Madison Genesis and Team Raleigh GAC. After five years of competitive cycling, Brennan felt ready to switch disciplines and compete in the Ironman World Championships and has based himself in Loughborough for the past two years to help achieve his aim. Ironman triathlons consist of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112- mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile run.

Switching disciplines was not always his aim. ‘It wasn’t intentional to leave cycling,’ said Brennan. ‘I enjoyed racing but deep down, in a selfish way, I wanted to race just for myself. Ironman allows you to get yourself in the best condition you can be in with a performance based purely on your own condition and how hard you’ve trained. Cycling can come down to tactics and other things. I also missed running a lot, which you just can’t do when training for cycling.

‘The big challenge of a mass endurance event is what appeals to me about Ironman. I like to take on big challenges and see what I can do and what I can achieve.

‘I’ve always liked running and cycling so to combine those over long distances is great. I’m newer to swimming and at first it was a bit of a struggle, but my times are slowly coming down.’

Brennan’s first season brought plenty of success, with wins at Ironman 70.3 UK Wimbleball and Castle Howard 70.3. He also represented Team GB at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Austria.

Thanks to his results in 2015, Brennan was granted a pro licence for the 2016 season. He is now using this and the 2017 season to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in 2017.

The qualification process works on a points system; each competitor has to gain enough points to rank in the top 50 pro triathletes in the world. Brennan will have to race a large volume of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races to accumulate the points that come with results.

His campaign begins at Ironman Wales but he will be racing 70.3 events in Fuertaventura, Mallorca, Staffordshire and on Alpe d’Huez in France before the season kicks off properly.

‘The early part of this season is just getting as many results as possible. I’m racing this Saturday in Fuerteventura and doing several half-Ironman distances to just get as many good results as possible. Then I’ll do a competition at the Alpe d’Huez at the end of July. There will be lots of climbing on the bike, which is one of my strengths so I hope to do well there.

‘The main target is the Ironman Wales, the first qualifying points race. I’ll do the best I can do there.’

His training regime is tough: ‘For a big preparation week before an event, I would be doing around 35 to 40 hours of training a week. That would be a combination of running, cycling, swimming and a bit of work in the gym. It is much more difficult than training for just one sport.

‘It can take up most of your days and leave you exhausted at the end of it so fitting in a job as well as the necessary training isn’t going to happen.’

Such training makes it impossible for Brennan to work even part-time to fund himself. Equipment deals forged through his cycling contacts have helped him secure equipment, but Brennan now needs to raise thousands of pounds through a crowdfunding campaign to support his efforts to reach the world championships.

He needs to raise £5,000 through the scheme to help him reach the championships.

Visit www.pledgesports.org/projects/triathlon-sponsorship-kona-2017-brennan-townshend to find out more and support Brennan’s efforts.