British IRONMAN Champion on committing to professional triathlon and chasing a T100 Tour wildcard

Despite finishing fifth at an IRONMAN World Championship in 2022 and recording a number of professional wins, British long distance athlete Ruth Astle has never been a full-time triathlete, until now.

Having given up her job with Lloyd’s Bank, the 34-year-old is now fully committed to the sport and shared what her first few weeks of full-time triathlon have been like in a recent YouTube video.

Additionally, the PTO World #83 gave an update on her fitness after an injury hit 2023 and revealed why she still hopes to be offered a wildcard slot to the next T100 Triathlon World Tour race in Singapore next month.

“I’m not expecting it to be that different”

Whilst she can now call herself a “proper professional athlete”, Astle admitted that it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that she is all in on the sport, sharing that she believes the process will take some time.

[Photo credit: Tom Pennington / Getty Images for IRONMAN]

“Finally a proper professional athlete. The timing of when I lined it all up, having done it after a month in Spain anyway as opposed to after a week working my Lloyd’s job, has made it not feel that different yet.

“I think over the next few weeks it will feel different, as by then it’ll be quite a long time since I’ll have done any Lloyd’s work and I’ll get to my first month without a pay check, which will obviously be different!

“I’m not expecting it to be that different going forward, I just think there will be some weeks where it’ll hit me that I don’t have to think anything else outside of triathlon.” 

“It could be a last minute trip”

Preparing to fly out to Nice for a camp on the IRONMAN World Championship course, Astle revealed a rough plan for the first part of the season, but said she was still also waiting for a last minute phone call from the PTO.

“I was hoping that I might get a Singapore wildcard, mainly because I quite fancy a trip to Singapore, but training has been going really well and I feel quite fit, so I was kind of hoping I would get the opportunity to race there.

“The start lists have come out and I haven’t so that’s a shame, but who knows, there could some more withdrawals, so it could be a last minute trip!”

With more than half the contracted professionals on the women’s side already not racing in Singapore on April 13-14, don’t be surprised if the Brit is a last minute call-up, as the second stop of the 2024 T100 Tour heads to South East Asia next month.