AFTER earning a silver medal at the Duathlon European Championships last month, 61-year-old Dave Butt has his sights set on a bigger prize when he travels to Spain in June.

He will be travelling to his first World Championships next month in the hopes of picking up a medal in his first outing on the biggest stage.

Butt, who is a member of CC Weymouth and is based in Dorchester, enjoyed his time in Germany for the European championships, where he took on the course that includes a five kilometre run, 20km bike and a 2.5km run.

He told Echosport: “It was incredible.

It can be quite intimidating when you see all of the countries’ athletes all in their kit.

“When you’re there, all the doubt goes through your mind as to whether you’re training was good enough and whether you’re good enough.

“The athletes out there are at the top of their game. I won a silver medal last year but I felt this year (it was a better result), when you look at the competition especially at my age group, they are very good.”

Butt showed he was definitely good enough as he claimed silver just a minute behind the winner, blaming cramp for his marginal loss.

“I don’t know why I got it,” he explained.”It’s never happened to me before but I cramped on the bike and he overtook me there.”

If the Europeans was a tough event, the Worlds will be a completely new event for him, something that Butt acknowledges.

He added: “The Worlds will be different. There are athletes coming from all over the world and it will be tactical.

“(Unlike the Euros) You can draft (on the bike), which is something I’m not used to.

“I’m not sure how I will do because of the drafting. We will have to see how it goes, I might not continue to do the Worlds because it’s draftlegal.”

Even though the race does not suit the 61-yearold as well as a traditional duathlon, he is still putting in the hard yards ahead of the competition.

He explained: “I do all of my training to numbers, I never go out to just enjoy it. I’m always doing it for a specific thing.

“It takes so many hours to be good, you have to put the training in.

“I think as you go through life you go through cycles and I now have time to train and I think I’m training harder than at any other point in my life.”

His training is incredibly precise, however his sporting lifestyle remains amateur, as Butt self-funds his events, despite representing his country.

“You have to pay for everything. I guess what you get out of it is the experience of representing your country and wearing the Union Jack on your chest,” he added.

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