Laura Siddall on her best season to date at 42

The idea of giving up the 9-5 for a career in pro sport might be an appealing one. But how many of us would really risk quitting the well-paid corporate world at the age of 34 to go for it?

For Laura Siddall – known to her mates as Sid – that question was easy to answer. While the pension pot might be bigger had she remained a management consultant, there are no regrets on taking a decision that’s enriched every other aspect of her life.

A five-time iron-distance champion, including a hat-trick at Ironman Australia, 2022 has peaked with two top-10 finishes in this year’s Ironman world championship double-header.

That would be classed as an Indian summer for many 42-years-old. For Siddall, it’s as if she’s just getting started, as 220 found out when sitting down with her in the King Kamehameha hotel the day after racing in Hawaii.

220: Tell us about your background.

Laura Siddall: Mum was a maths teacher and dad an engineer, as are two of my three sisters, so I studied mechanical engineering and joined the grad scheme with Shell, moving out to Australia on a two-year assignment where I found triathlon.

I left Shell but ended up staying out there and eventually moved into management consultancy.

220: How hard was it to give up the corporate career?

LS: Firstly, I was brought up with traditional values – GCSEs, A Levels, go to university, and sport looked great on the CV as a hobby when it came to getting a real job.

Secondly, there’s the financial security. I didn’t know whether triathlon was going to work. I’m normally risk averse, but having always played sport growing up but never given it full attention, with triathlon it was now or never.

In that respect it was easy.

220: What is it that you love about the sport?

LS: The community. Everyone has their own story, and I love going to races and meeting people. I walk down the street here [in Kona] and say hello to people I haven’t seen for years, or others come up and introduce themselves as a friend of X, Y and Z.

220: How important was it that the women had a standalone pro race in Hawaii this year?

LS: Really important. Listening to people today [the day after the race] they got to see a race they’d never seen before. It’s always been sandwiched between men’s races, so I think it was quite an eye-opener.

Next year it will be female-only on Thursday [Update: Ironman have since announced that the women's race will be on Saturday 14 October, and the men's will be taking place elsewhere] so I think that’s a great move as well.

But while it was nice racing first, I would like to see it switching because there will still be more eyes on the Saturday race.

220: Should the Ironman world championship remain in Hawaii?

LS: I think St George showed we can have a great world championship race outside of Kona and I speak broadly for the pros that they would be happy for it to be moved around.

While Kona used to suit a certain type of athlete, I think we might be seeing a changing of the guard. A lot of rookies are coming in with no preconceptions and the sport is changing anyway.

But when we come here it’s a reminder of the attraction, and that’s hard to wrench away.

I never thought I’d be saying I’ve had two top 10s in two world championships. But to be top 10 in Kona, in these conditions, with the standard of these women, and at 42, I’m super stoked with that

220: How pleased are you with 7th [St George, the postponed the 2021 Ironman World Champs which took place in May 2022] and 10th [Kona, the 2022 Ironman World Champs]?

LS: I never thought I’d be saying I’ve had two top 10s in two world championships. St George was amazing, a different field, different race and probably a course that suited me better.

But to be top 10 in Kona, in these conditions, with the standard of these women, and at 42, I’m super stoked with that.

Give me a couple of days and I’ll pull my race apart and think I could’ve done better, but at the moment I’m riding the high.

• Honest reflections from the British women at Kona

220: Why did you join the athlete board of the Professional Triathletes Organisation?

LS: I want to leave it in a better place than when I joined. I supported the PTO when it started because I saw the need for an athlete body and the opportunity came to put myself forward to be nominated.

I wanted to represent the athlete voice and make things better for the professionals coming through. As pro athletes, we’re in a much better place because of the PTO and the work they’re doing.

Triathlon is a solo focused sport and has to be for athletes to be successful, but now we’re trying to get everyone together as a team.

220: And you’re also involved with environmental initiatives. Tell us about those.

LS: If we removed all the athletes from the world it would still go on. Remove all the doctors and we’re in trouble. What can we do as athletes to add value?

I started working with Soles4Souls and managed to set up partnerships with Challenge Family to have collection points for unneeded kit at their races, and with Neuff Athletic in the UK where we’ve already filled three shipping containers with shoes that go to female entrepreneurs in Honduras and Haiti.

We also help kids in deprived areas of the UK. I’m on the British Triathlon sustainability commission too, I think it’s just becoming more important that athletes use their voice, and more brands and organisations are seeing the value when we do.

220: Finally, what triathlon goals do you have left?

LS: I was so focused on Kona, my world didn’t really exist after yesterday!

Top image credit: Korupt Vision