While Sara Butler had done a little swimming as a child, and generally considered herself to be reasonably active, she had no inkling of her potential as a triathlete.

In fact, she hadn’t touched a bicycle for years.

All that changed in 2008 when she signed up to Project Viper – an initiative to remove barriers for visually impaired athletes – and was dragged along to the London Triathlon.

“After that I was completely hooked,” says Sara. “I joined Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club – otherwise known as BRAT – and everyone there has been very positive and supportive.”

After only a year of hard training under the guidance of coach Geoff Moyes, Sara decided to enter the Corus British Disabled Triathlon Championships and ran off with the gold medal. She followed this up with silver at the European Championships in Holten, Holland.

“As a child I didn’t understand there was a competitive world I could be part of. Triathlon is great. It’s not only a fantastic sport, it’s incredibly accessible for visually impaired athletes.”

Sara also relishes the technical side of triathlon and the fact it takes much more than just being fit to do well. This is especially relevant when working with a guide. “We put a lot of thought and effort into how to best coordinate ourselves,” she says.

Finding a guide can be problematic for visually impaired athletes, especially when they are very quick. The guide needs to be even quicker!

Sara found hers through the good old-fashioned technique of taking friend Kylee Goode out for a drink and popping the question after she’d softened her up with a few beers.

As a triathlete, Sara’s strongest discipline is swimming. One of the toughest decisions she has to make when she races is where to start in the pack. “We made the mistake of starting too far back in one race. Because I’m tethered to Kylee at the knees we were too wide to fit through the gaps.”

Once underway Sara keeps her head down and takes her cues from Kylee. “Turning left is no problem: I can feel the tension in the rope between us. Kylee simply swims over me for a right turn.”

Sara doesn’t count strokes when she swims but likes to have a rough idea where she is and so will usually preview the course with Kylee before she starts. “The worst is judging the end. I don’t know when to put my feet down and wade. We once missed the landing stage in a race by several metres and had to crawl out over a very muddy bank.”

Biking has become Sara’s favourite part of the event. “I absolutely love it,” she says.

It’s hard work for Kylee though as she has to communicate every bend, bump and broken piece of road so that Sara can lean or shift her weight appropriately.

Onto the run and Sara’s weakest discipline where she has to worry her competitors cruising past. “I have to keep asking Kylee if there’s anyone there.”

Sara has a full time job, a boyfriend and a long daily commute yet she still manages to fit in around 11 hours training each week. “I can swim independently in a public pool and I do a lot of turbo training and treadmill running. I like to get out on the tandem at least once per week and run outside when I can.”

Sara won’t be representing Great Britain at the World Championship races in 2009 because of the time and cost implications but she hopes to qualify again in 2010.

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