Brigg and Lincsquad athlete Duncan Wright never thought he would be representing GB aged 45

If you're good enough, you're old enough – and for Lincsquad member Duncan Wright, that meant competing for his country at an age where he believed "the chance was long gone".

The 45-year-old received the honour of representing Great Britain at the World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France.

A back injury restricted Wright's training time prior to the tournament, but, despite being up against some top-class talent, he finished 44th out of 62 in his age group.

"I never thought I was sporting enough to represent my country at any level, and certainly at 45, I believed the chance was long gone," said the Brigg athlete, who qualified for Team GB at a duathlon in Cambridge earlier this year.

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"I was very excited to be flying the flag for my country in France.

"The competition was going to be tough. These were some of the finest duathletes in my age group in the world."

A duathlete for the last 20 years, Wright has competed in the summer series run by Scunthorpe Triathlon Club but recently switched to triathlon.

He completed his first Ironman race in Bolton this summer, slugging it out with a swim of 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and then running a marathon.

"My Ironman training was unsuited to the pace of duathlon," he explained.

"Unfortunately injury following my Ironman race restricted the amount of training I was able to put in, to the extent that I was happy just to make the start line in Nancy."

Wright faced a 10km run, followed by a 38km bike leg and a 5km run.

"Early on in the first run I found my lack of training really showing," he added.

"I was unable to maintain the fast pace of the front runners and had to find my own rhythm, and use the bike leg – my stronger discipline – to pick up some places.

"I'm really happy with my final result, especially bearing in mind my limited preparation."