Name:

Marco Stichini

Age:

32

City:

London (Originally South African)

Occupation:

IT Infrastructure Consultant

Race Bike:

Time / Dura Ace / HED carbon

Favorite training food:

Spaghetti Bolognaise

Favorite race:

Years in Triathlon:

4 but have cycling background

Previous notable performances:

National TT Champion Junior ‘93, 2^nd 6-Day Cycling Tour ‘94, 16^th Olympic Triathlon ’06, 2^nd Sprint Triathlon Age Group ‘07

“A” race for 08:

Ironman France

Some stuff about me:

I started cycling at the age of 13 and became registered into the South African Cycling Federation at the age of 15. At the age of 17 I became sponsored by a local team which I raced for the next 2 years. I then raced between South African, Portugal and some races in Africa. I took time out from the sport from the age of 23 due to studies, eventually moved to London and began running. I eventually bought a bike and started cycling to keep fit, motivation grew and in 2001 flew to South Africa to do a 4 day cycling tour which I finished 23^rd. My attention moved to triathlon after a friend asked me to do a sprint tri with him, I did so badly in the swim (I have no swimming background) that I decided to train. 6 Weeks later I finished 10^th in a medium distance triathlon, coming out the water in 20^th place followed by a few more. In 2006 went to do a UCI Golden Bike cycling race in Switzerland and got hooked. Since then I decided to focus on triathlons as I can spread the training load between 3 sports but most importantly to do and finish an Ironman. This year I did UK Ironman, came out the water in 1h15 and crashed 10km into the bike (slipped in the rain) – so now I have unfinished business.