Garrick Loewen started triathlon due to the concussions her was persistently suffering as an ice hockey player. Photographs are courtesy of Behind the Lense Photography and Morse Code Photography

GARRICK LOEWEN was born in London, Ontario, Canada and grew up in a small town called LaSalle. Although he can’t pinpoint the exact time he caught the ‘triathlon bug’ it was due to too many concussions during his years as an ice hockey player that forced him to find another sport. Triathlon was his choice and despite his weakness then as a swimmer it wasn’t long before he’d surprised even himself and needed the services of a coach as he fell deeper in love with the sport.

Today Garrick has gone on to achieve his ICC as well as ‘elite status’ in the sport. He hasn’t allowed some major injury setbacks to let him lose focus and is currently training as hard as ever for this summer’s triathlon season.

There’s no doubt Garrick is set to be a triathlon star of the future and this inspiring interview will be of interest to anyone with a passion for the three-disciplined sport currently pursued by athletes all around the world.

To find out more about Garrick and to follow his blog visit www.garrickloewen.com.

What was it about triathlon that inspired you to give it a go and how long was it until you were totally hooked by the sport?

I wish I could say that there was a single moment that made me want to try triathlon and I was immediately hooked, rather it was a gradual shift to the sport. My journey into triathlon started when I was about 16 years old and was forced to stop playing hockey (the real kind that you play on ice) due to a number of concussions. I knew after hockey I wasn’t done with sport I just had to choose a new sport. Thankfully I was always a half decent runner and loved longer distances! However, as per usual, when someone changes focus to running injuries occur and this forced me to start biking for maintain fitness. This kind of sparked an idea in my head that I should try a triathlon! Which to be honest was a completely ridiculous idea because I couldn’t even swim at the time. However, I got a coach, did my first try-a-tri and before long I found myself completely immersed in the endurance sport culture!

Garrick’s earliest major triumph in the sport was finishing second in the 16-19 age group at the World Championships in Edmonton.

Tell us about some of your early successes in the sport, the places it started to take you and life experiences it offered

While I was far from immediately successful in the sport I was able to finish my junior career off with some successful finishes. In 2014 (my last year junior) I managed to finish second in the 16-19 age group at the World Championships in Edmonton. This sport has taken me all over the world and to many places I had never really heard of let alone imagined I’d be traveling to! Just since getting my pro card I’ve travelled to numerous places in Europe, Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, Barbados, Tobago, Dominican Republic, and all over Canada and the United States. The biggest thing I’ve learned from triathlon is what hard work and dedication truly means.

It’s easy to say you want something but it’s another thing to go out and put the time and effort into really going after it. In triathlon you surround yourself with so many dedicated people that you’re forced to rise to another level or get out. I hear so much from athletes blaming other athlete’s rise in the sport due to the fact that they “train full time,” without truly understanding what that means. Being a full-time athlete for the most part in triathlon is still working 20-30 hours a week, possibly going to school like so many of us do, all on top of training up to 30 hours/week.

It’s about maxing out your visa to get to a race that you could possibly maybe make enough money to cover the expense of the trip, which many times you don’t and have to figure out how you’re going to pay for groceries and rent when you get home. Without being a burden to family by asking for money because they don’t deserve to have that burden hang over them due to a choice you made.

Despite already gaining his ICC and reaching ‘elite status’ there is still much more Garrick wants to achieve in the sport.

What had you had to have achieved to gain your International Competition Card and reach elite status? What did it mean to reach the height of the sport?

In Canada gaining an ICC now is fairly easy as they accept anyone who has received “elite” status from their provincial federation. I was lucky enough to get my Elite status straight out of Junior with my silver medal at age group worlds in 2014. I wouldn’t say I’ve hit the height of the sport because there’s still so much I want to accomplish in this sport in order to truly compete with the top guys in the world.

Tell us about the devastating injury you suffered soon after that high and how hard you’ve fought to come back?

In 2014 almost immediately after the world championships I got my first significant injury which was a couple of torn tendons in my ankle from twisting it during a run. This injury forced me to take multiple months off of almost everything triathlon and really set my running back. Once slowly building back from that I was hit with some health issues that further set me back followed by another twisted ankle with some more torn tendons.

All in all, these injuries took significantly reduced my overall training volume from October 2014 to about mid-March 2015 where I was able to slowly come back and get into decent shape for our ITU National championships in 2015. Unfortunately, at nationals I took a good kick to the head at the start of the swim and was diagnosed with another concussion. This was my fifth concussion to date and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. At the time I was forced to completely stop everything from training to working and even school for the most part.

Despite injury setbacks Garrick is focused on reaching greatness in the sport sooner rather than later.

The concussion occurred in July and by December I was finally able to start some light training. Come the 2016 season I had finally put together some consistent training but the early season was filled with DNF’s and just very poor results. As with many triathletes I like to do more training than less training and started adding “bonus” runs into my programme… In short this ended in a tendinopathy in my hip, this took an additional 3 months to come back from. This time around I vowed to listen to my coach and not do more or less! This resulted in a very impatient athlete (myself being the athlete) but my most successful professional season to date, and A LOT of time spent in the gym doing specific strength exercises.

In which discipline of triathlon do you excel and at which do you have to work the hardest?

I would definitely say the bike is my strength, this seems to be a common trend when it comes to the athletes in my training squad. (Team LPC, head coach; James Loaring) In draft legal races multiple times we’ve been referred to as “the cavalry.” It’s fair to say that mentally I work the hardest on the run because it is my weakest event but I wouldn’t say I work the hardest at it simply because I’m still building back from 3 years of inconsistent running. I am in the pool quite a bit and see a relatively high number of hours dedicated to it especially in the winter simply because I learned to swim late in life and it’s such a technique driven sport.

Tell us about all the work and projects you’re involved in outside of the sport and what it means to you to have such a rich variety of activity in your life?

I’m currently finishing up my degree in Human Kinetics at the University of Windsor which has been a great experience over the past few years! I also work part time as a prosthetic technician which is something I’ve always had an interest in especially when it comes to fabrication. On top of that I coach a few local athletes and am always in search of more!

Garrick is currently training as hard as ever and is aiming for his most successful season yet when races and events begin in the summer.

In terms of triathlon how hard are you currently training and what do you have planned in terms of events and races for the year ahead?

I’m in full winter training block mode! This means roughly 25 hours a week of training time, 20-30 hours a week of work and 5 courses at school. I don’t have anything set in stone for races this year but the tentative plan is to race Escape from Alcatraz, then follow the Escape series in North America, as well as race the Rainbow Cup in Tobago, Canadian Nationals, and FISU.

I’d also like to thank all my sponsors and supporters that make my journey possible including BLADE Carbon Wheels, Infinit Nutrition, Running Factory Windsor and Team LPC.

You can follow me on Instagram @loeweng and twitter @garrickloewen1