I’m a 63-year-old Bristol retirement village porter - I’ve just become a double quadrathlon world champion

Jules Taylor, 63, achieved his unique ‘double’ by winning both the 2024 Middle Distance Quadrathlon World Championship and 2024 Long Course Quadrathlon World Championship in the over 60s category.

While triathletes compete in three disciplines, quadrathletes take on the challenge of combining swimming, biking, running and kayaking.

Jules said: “I really did enjoy competing in both events and was very proud of my results, particularly in Hungary.

“It had been years since I did a long distance event and combined with the 35 degree heat, it was very challenging.”

At last year’s Middle Distance Quadrathlon World Championship held in Lincolnshire, Jules completed a 1.5km swim, 30km bike, 7km kayak and 9.3km run in an impressive 2 hours and 51 minutes.

In Hungary, at the Long Course Quadrathlon World Championship, Jules claimed his second world championship title with a 2.6km swim, 20km kayak, 62km bike and 21.1km run in 6 hours and 59 minutes.

We spend a lot of time curating the BristolWorld newsletter. We’d really appreciate it if you signed up

Jules is sponsored by Bristol-based St Monica Trust, where he works as a porter at their Westbury Fields Retirement Village.

St Monica Trust’s director of retirement villages, Roger Hayward added: “What Jules achieved last year would be a staggering achievement at any age, but even more so when you consider he is almost old enough to be one of our residents.

“He is a constant source of inspiration for our residents at Westbury Fields - and vice versa - as I know that some of them enjoy working out with Jules when he is using the onsite gym or running around the cricket pitch in his lunch hour.”

Jules only began competing in quadrathlons in 2022, having previously competed in half- marathons, marathons, triathlons, Ironman events, ultra distance kayaking and 24-hour ultra running.

His goals for this year are set high, with a focus on defending his national titles and competing in the Glasgow to Edinburgh Challenge, along with the Monster the Loch long-distance kayak races. The latter will see him tackle the entire 22.7 mile length of Loch Ness.