Sean Parish: From accompanying a friend to doing his first Ironman

The initial intention was not to take part in triathlons, but to accompany his friend for her first sprint triathlon. “Three years ago, I never considered doing triathlons. I was accompanying my friend on her open water swims, bike rides and runs,” said Sean Parish.

“It then got to a point where I realised since I was doing all the training, I might as well enter the race myself. So I did and I enjoyed it so much that I upgraded all my equipment, got a coach to help me create a formal training plan and went on to do Ironman 70.3 races,” the 46-year-old vice president of finance for a global pharmaceutical company added.

He was supposed to do his first full Ironman at Western Australia this year, if not for the pandemic. But that is still the goal!

“I am still training to keep fit and complete some virtual races, and am looking forward to next year where I have already entered the Ironman 70.3 Vietnam in May and my first Ironman in December. Either way, all my gear for those long bike rides, runs or races are from PURPOSE!” he shared.

Sean came across PURPOSE when he was doing his research for the best trisuits to wear in a hot environment. This was reinforced when he saw Dan Plews wearing the PURPOSE trisuit in Kona at the Ironman World Championship and breaking the age group world record.

“I love that the trisuits, cycling kits and running tops from PURPOSE are all cooling and lightweight. They are extremely comfortable and never cause chafing or any discomfort during training or racing – very important.

I also like the fact it is a brand from Singapore so the people living in this environment know what is needed from such wear! “ he said.