Louise Minchin admits she didn’t regain her love of sport until she was 45

Louise Minchin said she hated her body when she played sports at school and gave up participating for three decades before rediscovering it at the age of 45.

The former BBC breakfast presenter, 54, got into endurance sports after taking part in a Christmas cycling challenge for the broadcaster in 2012 and went on to compete internationally for the British triathlon team in her age group.

However, Minchin told Runners World UK it was “very sad” that she gave up training for 30 years before rekindling her passion for exercise.

She said: “I loved sports at school and did everything from netball to volleyball, although I was never good at running.

“I was my best at swimming but when I was about 15 one day I looked in the mirror and I saw these big muscular shoulders and I didn’t like them; I literally stopped training and racing at that point.

“I quit the sport for almost 30 years, which was very sad looking back. It took me until I was 45 to rediscover my love for sports.

“It was 2012 and the BBC breakfast team were organizing a challenge at the Olympic Velodrome.

“I had never ridden a bike course or road bike at the time, but I crossed the finish line in front of 4,000 spectators and said, ‘Wow!’ I had forgotten how much I loved sports.

“Shortly afterwards I bought a racing bike and a year later I did my first triathlon.”

Minchin is currently training for her first London Marathon on April 23.

She said: “I hope it’s the third time I’ve been lucky and run the London Marathon for the first time this year.

“The injury denied me twice – once with a foot problem and most recently with my knee – but I managed the virtual one when I was fit.

“Last November I started training from scratch with the Couch to 5K program after knee surgery (surgery), so it will be a long way back to completing the full 26.2 miles.”

Read the full interview with Louise Minchin in the April issue of Runner’s World UK, available March 1st.