Nic Beveridge

Excerpt from The Weekly Times, Wednesday 25 Sep 2019.

NIC BEVERIDGE is a triathlete on a mission in 2020.

Under the coaching of West Ryde’s Paralympic legend Louise Sauvage, a determined Nic shapes as one of our big hopes on the international scene.

Beveridge competes in the PTWC (handcycle/racing wheelchair classification) and underlined his potential when he snared a silver medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

A steely-eyed Nic has now set his sights on a podium finish at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo later this year after capping a strong 2019 ITU (International Triathlon Union) World Triathlon series with a ninth placing in the Men’s PTWC Grand Final in Lausanne.

He is able to compete in triathlon by swimming using his upper body, riding with a recumbent handcycle and completing the run through the use of a racing wheelchair.

During his teens, Nic showed natural ability on the cross-country track, in the swimming.

At the age of 17 Nic woke one morning to discover he was paralysed from the waist down with doctors diagnosing transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition which attacks the spinal cord.

While in hospital during the London 2012 Paralympic Games he began to research his options in para-sport and inspired by Bill Chaffey, a five-time world champion in para-triathlon, Nic contacted Triathlon Queensland and was classified.

He made his international debut the following year at the 2013 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in London where he placed 17th and his Paralympic debut three years later at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where he finished in ninth place.

At the 2014 and 2015 ITU World Championship Grand Finals in Edmonton and Chicago respectively, Beveridge finished ninth in the Men’s PT1.

Representing Australia at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Nic came within seven seconds of a place on the podium by finishing fourth—his best ever international performance.

He tasted gold medal success for the first time at the 2018 ITU Para-triathlon World Cup in Sarasota, USA, and has since carved out impressive results under his mentor Sauvage—one of Australia’s greatest ever wheelchair racers.