Teacher who couldn't swim becomes an international triathlete... and loses four stone in as many months
A teacher who only learned to swim front crawl 18 months ago has been selected to represent Great Britain - in the World Triathlon Championships.
Not content with simply running on a treadmill, super-fit Melanie Ryding, 37, was inspired to lose weight when she realised she could no longer fit into her size 16 jeans.
Although she hated sports at school, 5ft 10ins Melanie took up running and lost four stone in four months.
She went on to lose over a quarter of her body weight and started looking for something 'more interesting' to challenge her.
Melanie joined a triathlon club and started learning front crawl from scratch at a nearby swimming pool, before moving on to practice in the freezing cold waters of local lakes.
She laughed in disbelief when her coach suggested she try out for the world championships - but has now secured a place in the 35-39 age group.
Now she is training hard to compete against thousands of other triathletes in the Gold Coast World Triathlon Championships in Australia in September.
Melanie, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, said she was 'flabbergasted' when she qualified for the event.
She said: 'When I qualified it felt amazing. I've come from Mrs Jo Normal, completely unhealthy, to where I am now.
'I was a beanpole teenager but unfortunately after puberty I didn't stay that way. Eventually I just wasn't prepared to be a size 16 anymore.
'I hated PE and PE hated me. I was the forlorn-looking one stuck in the hockey goal because I wasn't interested in doing anything else.
'So if you'd have said to me then that I would be doing something like this now I would have thought that was completely ludicrous.'