Nic Beveridge

Started: He took up Para triathlon in 2012 and began competing in 2013 in Queensland, Australia. He had previously tried swimming and wheelchair basketball but did not enjoy either sport. "I played two games of wheelchair basketball and didn't enjoy it at all. I kept swimming for fitness, but I didn't compete." (trizone.com.au, 10 Aug 2017; dailymercury.com.au, 19 Dec 2016; uq.edu.au, 13 Oct 2014) Reason: He was inspired to take up the sport after watching the 2012 Paralympic Games on TV while recovering from an operation, and then reading an article about Australian Para triathlete Bill Chaffey. "I'd never watched the Paralympic Games before. Being stuck in bed though, I thought, why not? Something inside me clicked. It's the most memorable time in my life that I was inspired. I wanted to see what I was capable of. I typed in something strange [online] like 'extreme endurance Para sport'. I wanted something that would test my limits I didn't think a lot of people would be capable of doing. I read the article about Bill and was so excited to hear about Para triathlon! I decided this was it, I've got to get into this." (dailytelegraph.com.au, 16 Sep 2019; trizone.com.au, 10 Aug 2017; triathlon.org.au, 25 May 2014) Awards: He and David Bryant were joint winners of Triathlon Australia's Para Triathlon Male Performance of the Year award for 2021. (Instagram profile, 13 Dec 2022) He was named Professional Male Para Triathlete of the Year for 2020/21 by Triathlon Queensland in Australia. (triathlon.org.au, 03 Oct 2023) In 2021 he was named Sports Star of the Year by Ryde Sports Foundation in Australia. (Ryde Sports Foundation Facebook page, 10 May 2021) He was named among the Top 10 Sportspeople of 2016 by Australian newspaper the Daily Mercury. (dailymercury.com.au, 19 Dec 2016) Additional Info: RIO EXPERIENCE He says that placing ninth in the PT1 event at his first Paralympic Games in 2016 fuelled his desire to reach an even higher level in the sport. "When I got back from Rio, I felt dry and unfulfilled. I had the titles of Para triathlete and Paralympian, but I didn't feel like I'd filled them with the meaning they should carry. I just felt like there was so much more I could do in training, and within myself as an athlete, but I didn't know what that was. Two weeks after I got back, I reached out to [coach] Dan Atkins; I knew he was a great guy and a tough coach. I told him what I wanted to achieve. I wanted to make sure I'd done everything possible, so if my career ended the next day I'd be 100% satisfied I'd made the most of it and pushed myself as hard as I could." (trizone.com.au, 10 Aug 2017) INSPIRATION Having been inspired to take up the sport after reading an article about Australian Para triathlete Bill Chaffey, he competed together with Chaffey at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro before winning silver one place ahead of Chaffey at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. "I'm a sentimental type, so the fact Bill and I both went to Rio together with the sport's Paralympic debut was quite special to me." (gc2018.com, 07 Apr 2018; trizone.com.au, 10 Aug 2017) FURTHER EDUCATION He has studied for a bachelor's degree in law at Queensland University of Technology in Australia. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Apr 2023; dailytelegraph.com.au, 16 Sep 2019)