James Ellis

James is a London-based triathlete who focusses on the longer end of the triathlon spectrum. Originally with a background in off-road running, James took up triathlon in 2017 and has not looked back from swim-bike-run since! Having qualified for the World Championships at Olympic, 70.3 and Ironman distances James has shown a good level of performance across a range of events – but to steal a quote from Jan Frodeno – it is Kona that James really burns for!

England Middle Distance Triathlon & Duathlon Champion in his AG in 2019, James is looking forward to getting back into racing after covid put most events on hold for 2020 & 2021. Since racing kicked off again James has done 3 Ironmans and had 3 podium finishes including going 8:32 in Mallorca in May 2022.

James is all in for the Ironman World Championships in October this year where he hopes to use his strong run to pull through the field in the back half of the marathon on the Queen K! For a race where nutrition is particularly important, James is very grateful to have the support of Torq for another year. Expect to see his secret weapon – the café latte gel – coming out at the crucial points in the race when he needs an extra boost!

Dan Soltys

Originally from Cardiff, duathlon specialist Dan Soltys started cycling after getting a job as a deliveroo rider whilst at university in Bath. He soon joined the uni triathlon club and started training with them, quickly finding that he was a weak swimmer but a strong runner! Since then he has competed both in cycling and triathlon before a breaking onto the British Duathlon scene.

In 2021 Dan qualified for the Great Britain age-group team at his first attempt with an overall 4th place and age-group win at Ashridge Duathlon GB qualifier. He then went on to focus on longer distance races, winning Hever Castle long distance Duathlon by over an hour – in doing so qualifying to represent GB at the long distance Duathlon world championships in Zofingen, Switzerland.

With a breakthrough performance at that race, Dan became age-group world champion and finished 8th overall – overtaking the majority of the pro field. He hopes to return to the event this year in the Elite field as well as competing at the other Powerman series races across Europe.

Dan now lives in Bath and balances his training with a career as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy.

Donald Brooks

Based in the South West, Donald comes from a background in competitive swimming and Underwater Hockey (Octopush) which, over a 20-year period, saw him competing at an international level at multiple European and World Championships within the GB Elite and Masters teams.

In 2014 at the age of 37 Donald fancied a new challenge and decided to try his hand at triathlon. He entered a local event where he came a respectable 14th and was hooked. He has now been racing triathlon and multisport events for eight years, solidifying himself as one of the very best age group athletes in the world across multiple distances.

Donald not only won his age group at the last four European Championships, but took the overall age group win across all categories at the last three. Donald also has two age group World Championship titles for the standard distance triathlon, along with multiple British Championship tiles in various multisport events including Aquathlon, Duathlon and Triathlon.

Forever looking for new challenges, Donald has recently stepped up to compete in middle distance triathlons. He achieved two second place overall finishes at the prestigious Outlaw middle distance races (Nottingham and Bowood), then went on to secure the British Championship middle distance age group title.

Donald balances his training and racing alongside a full time job as a Company Director in the electrical industry with support from his wife and two young boys.

Nick Shasha

Based in London, Nick has represented Torq since 2008 at around the same time he started racing for GB in duathlon. He is one of the fastest age group runners in the world and major achievements to date include becoming World duathlon and European duathlon champion in 2017 and 2019 respectively. He has 5 World and European podiums overall. With mile and 5k PBs of 4:30 and 15:33 respectively running has always been his predominant strength and his love of draft-legal racing as well as conventional style racing helps him stay motivated.

A true multi-sporter Nick has also represented GB in triathlon and masters athletics (road, XC and track) and also has 5 British Masters titles in athletics and has raced for GB over 20 times. Uniquely he switches sport by season to keep things interesting. Most recently he has been taking advantage of the trails of his local Epping Forest in a crack at the 2022 European cross-duathlon championships which will be held this September in Bilbao, Spain. He has also recently gained two England Athletics vests for 10k.

Reaching 100 wins across all disciplines back in 2018 Nick has since stopped counting but still hopes to master tumble-turning in a pool one day!

Hannah Welling

Like everyone, 2021 was a mixture of excitement at being able to do the thing we all love – race triathlon – and a shock to the system as I remembered how long those Long course and Half distance runs can be!

That being said, I was really pleased to come away with a podium at all of the events I entered, kicking off the year being first lady at Worcester half marathon. I followed this up with a win (by nearly 20 minutes) at Outlaw Half Holkham and a second place at Ironman Mallorca at the end of the year.

I am hoping to go one better and get a top step at both Outlaw Half Holkham and Ironman Wales this year.