Triathlon star on the rise
Adriel Young turned up for his first ever Maccabi triathlon about a year ago on a borrowed bike … by his third major non-Maccabi race in January, he’d qualified for the Hawaii Iron Man, which he’ll tackle in October after representing Australia at the Maccabiah Games.
Adriel Young
“It’s all happened a bit quickly,” said Adriel. “By my third race I won my age group and was the first non-pro across the line and got a spot in Hawaii.”
Maccabi triathlon legend Anne Besser puts that modest assessment into perspective: “Adriel rapidly stamped on all comers big time (in his first race at Maccabi) and beat the field, with him first and lightning second … finishing with a surprised grin on a face that sponsors are going to fight for.”
Adriel, who is from a surf club background and used to be a surf ski paddler, was introduced to the sport by Australian triathlete Craig Alexander at a charity event. In fact, he confesses he’d barely done much bike riding before dipping his toes into triathlon.
Yet despite his inexperience, his raw athleticism shone through. After events at Port Macquarie and Noosa, where he came third in the 120-strong 20-24 age group, Adriel took to Auckland to attempt a half-ironman. He came first in his age group – qualifying for the full iron-man in Hawaii. Adriel beat a number of pros home – he was the first non-professional across the line.
While Adriel plays down his efforts, it’s astonishing – especially considering his training comes off the back of 10 hours of work as a lifeguard. In fact, you might even recognise Adriel from the Bondi Rescue television program on Channel Ten – the gang have a couple of weeks to go until they finish filming the eighth season of the show.
Adriel, a former Maccabi rugby player as well, has another week of heavy training to go before beginning to taper ahead of his full iron-man in just over a fortnight, in Melbourne.
He’ll get a damn solid workout in Israel, competing in the bike time trial, the ocean swim, triathlon and half-marathon events in the sapping summer heat.
And from there, it’s onto Hawaii.
Anne says: “Adriel is just a natural talent, does not have a coach and is just an all round Mr. Nice Guy”.
Best of luck, Adriel.
