Michael was competing in the 2009 Wildflower Triathlon Festival in California and finished in an impressive ninth place.

He said: "It was a great experience being able to race in the triathlon capital of the world as well as being able to put in a solid performance at my biggest race so far with 3,500 athletes in my race.

"Some people might say that after having only completed 12 triathlons I'm not experienced enough to be a proper judge of a tough triathlon course but in the past 18 months I've learned the general rule that flat is easier and hilly is hard. Following that mantra, Sunday's race was crazy!"

The strong swimmer started positively in the water, emerging with a two minute lead over the third placed triathlete and more than four minutes ahead of the chasing pack.

After a tough bike section Michael had dropped to sixth with the hilly terrain and scorching heat taking its toll before dropping back to tenth as the running section reached a thrilling climax.

He said: "With 500m to go a home team athlete passed me, which put me into tenth place. However as I got nearer the finishing line I started to take in some of the cheers from the spectators that were there.

I didn't have much left in my legs but I mustered everything I had left and decided to sprint for the line. The runner in front of me had a 30m gap so I had my work cut out but luckily he had started to take in the cheers from the crowd and didn't notice me storming up behind him. I passed him with five metres to go to get ninth place."


Michael added: "I realised I had probably just made an enemy so I immediately turned round to congratulate the other triathlete. He was a great sport though and assured me that next time he would run across the line a bit faster."

Michael was fortunate to even be competing at all in California after requiring hospital treatment following an accident the week before the race. The Cults man was thrown off his new bike after colliding with a minivan, hitting his head on the ground. Michael was taken to hospital but released after a night of concussion checks but his new bike didn't get off so lightly and was damaged beyond repair.

Michael has since returned to Cults after completing his studies in Canada.

"I really enjoyed my eight and a half months there but it is great to be back home," he said.