Geoff Helisma | If you frequent the streets of Yamba when the sun is still low in the eastern sky, there’s a good chance you’ll notice a very fit 75-year-old man either running or riding his bike. On September 13 at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final event on the Gold Coast, that man became a world champion when he finished 55 seconds in front of his nearest rival, Canada’s Graeme Barber. Ray Hunt won the 75-79 Male AG Sprint, which consisted of a 750 metre swim, cycling for 19.7 kilometres and a five kilometre run. Catching up with Ray is not always easy – he’s not too keen on talking to the media about his sporting achievements; he’s been ‘burnt’ before. Hopping out of the car to congratulate him, he looked beyond fit: body fat was non-existent, his handshake was firm and welcoming – Goldilocks and the Three Bears comes to mind. He says peak fitness is the primary “discipline of triathlon”. “For the worlds I got down to 65 kilograms, the lightest I have been since I was a teenager,” he says. “It’s an aerobic sport and if you carry dead weight it’s a burden.” So what propels Ray Hunt to strive towards being ultra-fit? “I’ve been a fitness fanatic all of my life,” he says. “In fact, when I was young I loved sport so much that my education became secondary. I failed exams and slipped behind, but I then realised how important education was – it’s as important or more important than sport.” His competitive drive is another thing that rouses him “out of bed in the morning; I like to be healthy, and sport is a part of that”. “One thing that gets me out of bed in winter is knowing that my competition will be doing the same, and if I am going to beat them I have to get out of bed, too. “It’s a Catch 22 – it keeps me healthy, but even if I get beaten it still satisfies the fact that I am fit and healthy.” There’s more motivation though; fair play during and after an event feeds his ethos. “I got beaten by an American in the Olympic distance and the first thing I did was go over and congratulate him. “But I had to bite my tongue, because over the last 10 kilometres of the bike leg my saddle slipped and I was virtually standing up, which built up a lot of lactic acid in my legs. “But I wouldn’t tell him that. That would be bad sportsmanship. “I saw some [other athletes] hit the wall coming to the finish line and I saw competitors from a different country pick them up. “That is sportsmanship.” Do people ever tell you that you are overdoing it at your age? “Yes, but you go through different eras. “Twenty years ago, you’d run past a pub and you’d be heckled. In those days you just didn’t go around running; but now it’s cool. “And I’ve proved what I am doing is good for you. “I had to go back to Sydney and I saw a lot of my old mates; still drinking, still smoking, still living their normal lives, never changed … and they’re walking around in frames. Someone knocks at the door or the telephone rings; they couldn’t get out of their chair. “It was just pitiful. I am not sure if they realised the difference and why?” Ray says he spends time in his head “satisfying the problems in life and thinking about a lot of things” while pounding and pedalling the pavement. And there’s the social aspect of the sport of triathlon. “It’s like one big family – even though you’re competing, you learn to respect fellow competitors, volunteers, the officials; it becomes a social aspect of your life you can’t do without. “I look forward to tri days when we get together to laugh with each other.” Before we part, Ray insists that he wants to highlight how the discipline of sport, learning and health go hand in hand. On achieving his non-sport career goals he says he “couldn’t have done one without the other”. “I say this to demonstrate that studies and sport work together; I aim this at children going to school and those who are going off to uni and finding life tough – either physically or mentally.” Similar to how Ray combines aerobic (running, swimming, riding, for example) and anaerobic (weightlifting and sprinting for example) exercises, he says being physically fit is key to enjoying good mental health. “But, the most crucial thing is that you have to enjoy the sport you choose; if not find something else that you do enjoy.”