Danny Eddy, better known around town as ‘Boone,’ participated in eight triathlons this year, and made it to the podium in every event.
Among the eight sporting events are the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah and four out of five Subaru triathlons, including Sooke, Shawnigan Lake, Elk Lake and Banff.
Eddy had a special honour at the Subaru Banff Triathlon on Sept. 8, when he was presented with his gold medal by trampolinist Rosie MacLennan, Canada’s only Olympic gold medalist from the London Games.
He earned the gold medal in the Super Sprint category (300 m swim, 12 km bike and 5 km run) for his age category.
“Oh, wow, what do you say, eh?” Eddy said of the experience. “She had her medal there, it was pretty cool.”
The 64-year-old made a drastic transformation seven years ago, when he shed 60 pounds and abandoned his ball playing, beer drinking ways.
He came down with a cold, and lost his appetite, causing him to lose weight. And when the weight started falling off, Eddy seized the opportunity and began running.
“I saw some weight going off, so I thought ‘Oh, lets take some (more weight) off.’ It was a good thing, maybe.”
The avid and accomplished triathlete has been competing ever since.
Now he trains with Sooke’s triathlon club, Team X, from October to the first triathlon event of the year, which is usually April.
If he’s not training, he’s exercising on his own initiative, going on bike rides, doing laps in the pool and going for nightly runs.
Eddy said what he likes about triathlons is that they keep him in shape and challenge his body.
“I like the health part of it... it’s good for the body.”
Eddy, who classifies himself as an ‘Old Sooke boy’ was born and raised in the area. He will be turning 65 in March, which means he’ll be moving up an age group, and possibly on to a more challenging event category.
“This year I plan on doing some Olympic distances, so that should be good,” he said.
“I feel I’m in pretty good shape, so why not?”