Hayden Wilde: Super League Triathlon Took Me From Landscape Gardener To Champion

Hayden Wilde said it is an ‘unreal feeling’ to go from starstruck landscape gardener to Super League Triathlon champion in the space of just four years.

The New Zealander was unheard of on the world stage when he left behind his gardening job after an invite to Super League Triathlon Jersey in 2018.

But he seized his opportunity to race the best in business and has enjoyed rapid progress through to 2022 where he is one of the sport’s biggest names having secured the 2022 Championship Series title.

It is a fairytale story for Wilde, and one which underlines the career changing trajectory that Super League offers to young athletes.

Wilde said: “I got the opportunity when Macca emailed me when I was back home landscaping and said ‘come over to Jersey’. I told him I couldn’t afford it and he told me it was paid for so I was on the next flight.

“That’s where it began and I got seventh ahead of Mario (Mola) and you should have seen me. I was like a kid in a candy store. It was brilliant.

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“From there it has been an awesome progression, getting that experience in Super League racing. I never had that experience before that and never raced the World Series before and so lining up and racing Mario and Javi and Vince was an amazing opportunity.

“To be here now on top is an unreal feeling.”