Non Stanford: Dreams, Dales, Disaster and Delight

“Having some down time really gave me the chance to develop as a person and also realise that triathlon was what I really wanted to do. I also experienced the party side of things, and had a really sociable time. That was great because ultimately it made me realise that I did want to pursue a career in sport and I got that partying out of my system. It worked out really well for me.”

Yet that is only the start of the story. She spent a year training in Birmingham upon graduating, whilst simultaneously holding down two jobs. One of these was at the university’s sports department, whose scholarship programme had supported her so well during the previous years, and the other at the local bike shop who still sponsor her now. To reach the next stage though, a plunge needed to be taken, and it was it was Kelly Holmes, her long term mentor, who provided the necessary shove which has been so instrumental to her progression.

“She gave me a bit of an ultimatum. She said to me that if I really wanted to take this seriously then I had to move up to Leeds to work under Malcolm Brown, and go full time. So I bit the bullet, handed in my notice at work and moved up to Leeds.”

It was a watershed moment, and despite feeling the pain of being further away from her family, she has thrived under the coaching of Brown. With a pool of athletes based up in the Dales which includes the Olympic gold and bronze medallists, as well as Tom Bishop and her boyfriend David McNamee (who is also a triathlete), she has no shortage of training partners to test herself against.

It is an environment she clearly enjoys. “It’s very easy to get out into the Dales from where I’m based.” Non lives just outside Leeds city centre. “I think it’s one of the reasons the athletes up here are so successful; we have everything on our doorstep. It’s not a hardship to go out and cycle in the countryside because it is so beautiful,” she adds, which is just as well given the intensive training schedule she undertakes.

On a typical day she is in the pool by 7am; a start she describes as ‘fairly leisurely’! That perhaps in itself speaks volumes about how much understated hard work goes in, but also the depths to which she feels comfortable, and is enjoying the set up.

“I tend to get up at 6.15. After an hour and a half of swimming, we’ll go for a longish run (about 70 minutes) followed by a 3-4 hour bike ride. We’ll then be in the gym for some strength and conditioning in the evening. Every day is quite different though. We usually swim, bike and run every day though. In the winter it amounts to 30-35 hours of training a week.”

She clearly loves the training. She took a two-week break from it all at the start of October to have some rest and recuperation to travel around Italy, yet one of the first things she mentions when I speak to her is how much she is looking forward to getting back on the bike in the Dales!

I wonder how she finds the energy for it. “I think you do get used to it. You are tired a lot of the time, especially during the winter when the training volume is so high. But you get into a routine and you get used to always being hungry.” It’s a good job she loves cooking then. “I’m certainly no masterchef, but I love making homemade burgers and chips! My chocolate orange cake has been quite popular too lately!”

And what does she make of the Brownlee brothers? I ask her which one of them has the better sense of humour. “Oh god!” she gasps, searching for a diplomatic response. “Jonny’s very good at the one liners. Alistair has generally got a very good sense of humour though, whereas Jonny can be quite serious most of the time.”

“They are true legends of our sport though. We’re very fortunate we can learn what it takes from them.” That learning process stretches beyond the pool, track or muddy hills of training too. Non’s success this summer has inevitably led to a raft of media and sponsor interest, something she acknowledges is a great compliment, but is understandably keen to ensure it does not distract her focus.

“My team around me have tried to keep everything normal and quiet. That’s where having experience in dealing with Alistair and Jonny has really helped. At the end of the day, I’m training with a whole range of athletes too, some of whom are just students, so that gives you a good perspective on life.”

It is easy to forget she almost didn’t make it to the start line in London at all, having crashed out of the mixed relays, which she was competing in with the Brownlees, in Hamburg less than two months before, fracturing her elbow in the process.

Non takes the baton from Alistair Brownlee at the start of her calamitous leg in Hamburg (Photo: mirror.co.uk)

Hearing the stick Alistair Brownlee gave Jonny for losing his sprint finish in London in September, Non counts herself fortunate she ended up in hospital straight after the race and didn’t have to face the inevitable abuse that came her way from the Olympic Champion! “I’m sure he called me a lot of things. Thankfully I didn’t have to hear them!”

Yet the race against time to get fit for the finals in London meant the fun and games stopped for a while, especially when the fracture took a week to diagnose. “It was a stressful few weeks after that. But there was never really a point where I thought, even when I was lying in hospital, I wouldn’t make it. I never gave myself that option really,” she explains in her unflinchingly positive manner. “They decided not to cast it so I was very fortunate in that respect. But I did have to sit on a turbo for quite a while. We were up in the mountains, so I was sat on a balcony on my turbo while everyone else was out cycling.”

Yet that hard work would pay dividends a few weeks later, and her ability in wet conditions meant she thrived as many of her fair weather rivals failed to cope with the slippery roads of the capital. Still only in her mid-twenties one cannot help but feel this is only just the beginning for Non.

“The main aim for 2014 is representing Wales in the Commonwealths. I’d love to win up in Glasgow. I’d also love to try to defend my World Championship title, but I don’t know how plausible that is with the Commonwealths at this stage.” Beyond that, she has her eyes set on the Rio Olympics in 2016, especially with London 2012 having come too soon for her, but has no plans to compete in an Ironman anytime soon.

“It seems like a very long day out to me,” she jokes. “I definitely haven’t got my head around it. You never know what might change further down the line, so we’ll see, but I don’t even want to think about it at the moment.”

For a moment I forget that this is a World Champion speaking. In an age when celebrity defines so many sports and their stars, that speaks volumes.