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Career Achievements |
Overcoming Illness
NICK CROFT PROFESSIONAL
TRIATHLETE - CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS
Nick competed in his first Triathlon in 1984,
on Australia's Gold Coast, as a 17-year-old. It
was a 400m swim / 12km bike / 4km run. A small
club event but an overall win made the debut all
the more memorable. In March 1985 the first venture
into Olympic distance saw a victory over an experienced
field at Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine
Coast. The Time of 1.58 was not bad at the time
but it was the 3-minute victory over the Noosa
Triathlon 3rd place getter from 1984 that had
some established elite’s taking notice.
Later that year, winning Noosa in a record time
showed that the initial victory earlier that year
was no fluke. By the end of that 1985/86 season
Nick had added numerous wins to the list but it
was the Australian Long Course Championships that
was the major standout so far in his career to
that point.
By the late 80’s Nick had established himself
as one of the best in Australia and traded wins
with Brad Beven, Stephen Foster, Greg Welch and
Greg Stewart. By 1991 the overseas circuit was
calling and between 1991 and 1995 Nick lived France
for part of the season and had some standout races.
Winning the ITU Cup in China in 1991 came after
a solid season of racing in Australia, which saw
Nick take out the Australian Triathlete of the
Year Title as well finishing well up in the ITU
World Cup Standings. He was also named men’s
Captain of the World Championship team. In 1992
coming 5th at Nice in France was the highest placing
by an Australian since Greg Stewarts 5th in 1987
and by the end of the season had won 4 more events
and had established himself as one of the top
Australian performers in Europe.
Another good European stint in 1993 saw Nick
continue the good form and lead to his debut at
Europe’s oldest Ironman event at Almere
Holland. The time of 8.26 was the fastest by an
Australian at the time on debut and signaled the
desire to start to concentrate on long events
from that point. Another solid Ironman 6 months
later in Ironman Spain confirmed the potential
and with that event came entry to Hawaii in 1994.
A promising start with 3rd from the swim and second
onto the road was wrecked by a new sponsored bike
poorly set up. A valuable lesson learnt. Before
the DNF, there was the buzz that came from leading
the event and trade turns at the front with eventual
winner, fellow Aussie Greg Welch. It was during
this time that Nick started to have some health
issues in the form of gastrointestinal upsets.
From 1992 the problems started and intensified
in 1993 but were controlled till 1995. It was
then that Nick suffered a major blow that signaled
the end of his professional athletic career.
Nick Croft - Professional Triathlete 1988 -1995
- Competed in over 130 Triathlons (1985-1995)
- 35 Out right victories
- 30 podiums (2nd / 3rd)
- 1995 Based in France, racing for French team
Salon de Provence - 3rd place Triathlon de Valence
(Season and professional triathlon career ended
after this event due to illness).
- 1994 15th ITU World Long Course Championships
– Nice France
- 1st Triathlon d’Avignon France
- 4th Lanzerote Ironman (Spain) – 8hrs.48min
- 1993 4th Almere Ironman (Holland) –
8hrs.26min – (fastest by Australian on
debut)
- 1st Triathlon International de Jura (France)
2/80/20
- 1st Triathlon de Bessege (France)
- 5th Nice International Triathlon
- 2nd French Long Distance Championships
- 3rd Australian Long Course Championships
- 1992 1st Triathlon de Corsica (France)
- Captain Australian World Championship team
Muskoka (Canada)
- 1st Triathlon d’Ancone (France)
- 3rd ITU World Cup Moscow
- 2nd Triathlon International Grenoble/ Alpe
d’heuz
- 5th Triathlon International Nice
- 2nd Australian Long course Championships
- 1st Sri Chinmoy Triathlon Canberra
- 1st Geelong National Tour race
- 1991 Captain Australian team World Championships
- 1st Beijing ITU World Cup (China)
- Winner Australian Triathlon Series
- Australian Triathlete of the Year
- 11th Place ITU World Cup Series
- 1990 Winner 6 events
- 2nd Noosa Triathlon
- 1989 Member 1990 Commonwealth Games Triathlon
Team – Auckland New Zealand
- 2nd Noosa Triathlon
- Member first official Australian (winning)
team at inaugural ITU World Triathlon Championships,
Avignon, France
- 2nd Australian Long Course Championships Canberra
- Winner – 6 events
- 1985-88 Winner 20 events – including:-
- 2 times QLD Triathlon Champion
- South Australian Champion
- 2nd VIC Championship
- 2nd NSW Championships
- 1986 Australian Long Course Champion
- 2 Times Noosa Triathlon Champion
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