Top Shropshire triathlete's advice for protecting your mental health

The 54-year-old, who is well-known as part of the SAS: Who Dares Wins television programme, competed at the T100 Triathlon Age Group World Championships in Qatar, where he finished seventh in his category.

It left the Shropshire-born soldier with the slight taste of disappointment but he was keen to promote a wider message about the importance of challenge and exercise.

“You live and learn,” he reflected. “I had a bad swim, a great bike as always and I don’t know if it is the trainers or my feet but something is wrong.

“It is not a failure, it is growth. It is an awesome event. As soon as the pain dilutes, it will be onto the next goal.

“This is the answer to a lot of people’s issues with mental health. They sit there doing nothing and become very insular on the inside, the wall grows on the inside and before they know it they are so inhibited.

“When people are having problems with their mental health, maybe it is just a tap on the shoulder saying do something different. It’s our internal warning system.

“People always need to be aiming for something bigger and that would answer a lot of mental health issues. Certainly for me, if I do nothing my world falls apart.”

Ollerton was one of over 250 amateur athletes competing in the age group competitions, having qualified for the season finale on his first attempt at the 100km distance in Dubai.

The T100 Triathlon World Tour offers amateurs a unique opportunity to compete on the same course as the professionals, with Kate Waugh and Hayden Wilde crowned world champions the day prior.

Thousands of athletes in total took part in a triathlon of some form in Qatar as part of the T100’s efforts to boost participation in the sport and Ollerton believes it is something that is still accessible for older people despite what they might initially think.

He added: “I am 55 in a few weeks. Age is demonised in our society and a lot of people accept that [their stomach] is going to grow out so they can’t see their feet and the fact they will go to a doctor because they accept we will get ill. It’s rubbish.

“We are not our age, we are our energy. My focus is men with mental health issues and getting them to understand that I may be a former special forces soldier but I bleed and breathe like everyone else.”