Bio

I was born on the 7th of August, 1978 and currently reside in Tuart Hill, Western Australia.

My formative years were spent in a large family home with 3 brothers and 1 sister in the Willetton area, 15km south of Perth.

My sporting career began like many young Australians, with winter football, summer cricket and countless late nights running around the streets with family and neighbours. Despite some promise in team sports, I found that I was more naturally suited to distance running and after representing my school at inter school athletics, was fortunate to be “discovered” by my first coach, Vic Nolan at 16.

Vic was a fantastic character and played an important role until my late teens. We accumulated plenty of state junior titles and built a great stable of runners around the Willetton area. Most importantly, he imparted the importance of understanding the big picture, having raced himself extensively around the world. His knowledge and passion for athletics helped countless young athletes develop into better athletes and people.

While studying and my initial years of working as a Physiotherapist, I backed off training and focussed on my profession. Fortunately, I still kept some fitness during those years and competed semi-regularly in fun runs and occasional multi-sport or track competitions. During those years, I also met my beautiful wife Lianne and undoubtedly the late nights on the tiles helped me develop the skills to twist her arm far enough behind her back to keep her around

Things changed in 2005, when my family lost our second youngest, Wesley. It was a very sad time and a big shock to the whole family. It resulted in a “restructure” in my thinking and a push to pursue my sport more seriously. In the wash up, I decided to pursue duathlon, largely because the world championships where in Australia in 2005 and it gave me an immediate focus and goal to help deal with the situation. Also, I moved from an employee to owning my own Physiotherapy and Massage business with my good friend, Mark Parlet at the same time.

Once I started training again, my form and strength built consistently and the results have been very rewarding as I have become one of the worlds best exponents of the run-bike-run discipline. During 6 years racing as a pro, I have accumulated 17 professional victories around the globe, 7 World Cup podiums, won a Bronze Medal at the 2011 European Championships and finished 6th at the 2009 World Championships. On 3 separate occasions I have finished with a top 10 World Ranking, including a peak of 3rd in 2009. We have been very fortunate to spend long periods based in the beautiful Basque region each European spring and the culture and support of the Urdaibai team has been fantastic both personally and professionally.

During my time racing, my wife and I married in 2006 and we now have two beautiful children, Sebastian and Emma. Business has also grown and expanded significantly to include not only The Body Station Physiotherapy and Performance Centre but also co-ownership of Perth’s premier shoe fitting and specialty retail store, The Running Centre.

Although life has got busier and priorities have changed, the spirit to compete, which was embedded with me as a boy, still burns. I still believe that my best race is ahead and I now focus exclusively on targeting major Championship glory at either the European and World Championships.

I am extremely grateful to my wife and children, parents and family plus sponsors, supporters and friends for their support, patience and encouragement.

Thanks for following the journey and keep checking back as it continues

Best,
Rafael Baugh