Sam Holness: 'My dream is to be a black, elite triathlete with autism'

Triathlete Sam Holness knows plenty about determination, dedication and being a role model for others.

In 2022, aged 29, Holness completed his first Kona Ironman. He crossed the line in a little over 13 hours, with his time almost five and a half hours behind overall winner Gustav Iden. But while he wasn't breaking race records in Hawaii, he was shattering barriers.

Holness, who is autistic, became the first openly neurodivergent athlete to complete Kona's notoriously difficult course - a feat recognised by Guinness World Records.

There is another status quo he wants to see change. Holness is one of only a handful of black athletes competing in some of the world's toughest endurance races.

"I want to encourage other black athletes to take up swim, bike, run and dream of becoming champions," he said.

As a sport, triathlon struggles for diversity. According to a 2021 British Triathlon Annual Report, just 3.2% of British Triathlon members are from an ethnically diverse background - whereas census data shows about 18% of the population is.

The Holness family has long embraced challenges. Both of his grandparents arrived in England as part of the Windrush generation.

"We've both got Caribbean roots so we draw on those roots and we define our parents - Sam's grandparents - as the entrepreneurs. The original travellers," said Tony Holness, Sam's father.

"They got on a boat in Windrush days in the 1950s and they came here. Therefore, if you have that entrepreneurship perspective about you, going to somewhere you don't know, then it became quite natural for us to say, 'What can he do?' Draw the best things out of Sam to make him the best he can be."

Sam's mother, Marilyn, provides further inspiration. One of approximately just 50 black female professors out of 22,000 in the whole of the United Kingdom, she became an OBE in 2009 for services to teacher education.

Marilyn and Tony learned their son was autistic before he turned four.

"You've got a new-born and you watch them alongside the children of friends and family and you watch and see things maybe not developing or milestones not being reached as quickly," Marilyn said.

They dedicated themselves to giving him every opportunity and focused on the things he could do, rather than things he couldn't.

Sport became a good outlet.

"He learned to swim really early, so on a bad day he could go swimming and he could swim up and down and no one could take that from him," said Marilyn.

Holness tried trampolining, archery, ice hockey, and judo before he settled on endurance sports. Whenever he races, he wears tri suits emblazoned with "autism is my superpower".

"It makes me hyper focused and determined; I never give up," he said.

"Because I like doing repetitive tasks… training for endurance sports is perfect for me. Sport has improved my life a lot. It provides me with purpose.

"Training is very important to me because it's what I do 24/7. It's my job. It doesn't matter if I'm cycling, swimming, running or doing strength and conditioning, I always do my best and I never quit. This is because I want to become the first elite triathlete with autism in the world."

Holness' determination has taken him to races around the world but while the destinations change, one thing remains constant.

"Sam turns up at races and he might be part of, you know, three or four black triathletes that are there," said Tony.

"Sometimes Sam will say, 'Look, I'm the only black one'," added Marilyn.

"Sometimes when other people are meeting us… you can see almost on their face: 'Oh, we didn't expect you to be black.'

"I think it makes them stop and think - and what it does is allow the conversation, because you're in a situation whereby the majority of the triathletes, the organisation and the set-up are predominantly, you know, indigenous white people.

"Then we come in, they see us and then there's a conversation. Yeah, it will sometimes be about race but that's OK because it's OK to talk about race. It's OK to say: 'Actually, there aren't many people like us here. What might we do? How can we do it?'

"So it starts the conversation and it opens the door… and maybe if that door opens, some people will come in.

"All I want is for somebody to see Sam doing what he's doing and get up and say: 'God, if Sam can do that, it's going to encourage me.'"

As well as being Sam's father, Tony is also his coach, giving up a career in banking and IT two years ago to help his son.

Under his tutelage, Holness, now 30, has made good progress. In just his second marathon, he broke the three-hour barrier.

"Only 4% of people in the world run sub three [hours] and he's going to run 2:30. He's going to run 2:30 because he has it in him," said Tony.

Their teamwork is key - and has a spiky element that works for them.

"We're like Timon and Pumba from The Lion King or Goofy and Max from Disney's A Goofy Movie. We're always bickering," said Holness. "If we bicker, we always make up. We're like Danny Glover and Mel Gibson from Lethal Weapon or Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys.

"I think my dad is the best coach for me because he understands how to communicate with me… he doesn't shout that often.

The gap between Holness and the very best endurance athletes is currently significant, but time is on his side as he attempts to reduce it. Many endurance racers reach their peak in their mid-to-late 30s, sometimes later. In the past 12 months, he has raced at both the 70.3 and 140.6 Ironman world championships and seen the best up close.

"I learned that I could compete in the hardest Ironman race and that I can meet my dream of becoming a black, elite triathlete with autism one day," Holness said.

"I would like to become the first professional triathlete with autism and motivate others who are neurodiverse and look like me to take part in sport."