John Maclean makes 5th Aussie team in 5th different sport at age 55 with sprint kayak selection

Kelly Slater is the poster boy for fit and fabulous after 50. But Sydney’s John Maclean might just have taken his mantle as one of the world’s most extraordinary “senior’’ athletes.

He’s swum the English Channel multiple times, contested a Sydney to Hobart yacht race, done the famous Molokai ocean challenge, created history in the Hawaii ironman triathlon and won numerous Paralympic medals.

Now athlete and uber cross coder John Maclean’s CV just got a little longer - and more extraordinary - after making his fifth Australian team in a fifth different sport at the ripe young age of 55.

“I chased a dream and caught it,’’ Maclean told NewsLocal sport.

Kathryn Ross and John Maclean on heir way to silver at the World Rowing Championships before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

American Kelly Slater has long been the poster boy for fit and fabulous in your late 40s and early 50s, but Maclean’s latest feat is nothing short of amazing - although not exactly surprising to those who know him.

Maclean this week was named onto the Australian para sprint kayak team for an upcoming World Cup in Poland - just six months after taking up the sport and with just a handful of races to his name.

John Maclean sailed in the Sydney to Hobart on the yacht Aspect Computing

This follows on from the former footballer, who became a paraplegic when hit by an eight tonne truck training for a triathlon near his Penrith home back in 1988, representing his country in triathlon, rowing, wheelchair racing and cycling.

While incredible, his latest feat is not his most memorable with Maclean, an incomplete paraplegic, leaving his wheelchair on October 26 2014 to complete the Nepean Triathlon as an able-bodied triathlete.

Wheelchair athlete John Maclean finishes competing in the Nepean Triathlon as an able-bodied athlete with his son Jack and wife Amanda at Penrith in 2014.

“With my carbon fibre leg brace on my right side I do my best to walk around now. There is no wheelchair in the house any more,’’ he said.

“But if I have to go more than 100m or so I do it in the chair to save my energy for other things.’’

Maclean has been mentored throughout his campaign in sprint kayaking by Beijing gold medallist and Tokyo Olympic deputy chef de mission Ken Wallace.

Maclean in a 5000m heat at the Sydney Olympics.

“Ken is great and I am just loving the sport,’’ Maclean said.

“The thing that is cool is that my whole goal is I like to encourage people to get off the couch and hopefully this does.

Ironically, Maclean said he does his best plotting on the coach and was on it when the idea of trying his hand at kayaking came to him.

Maclean competing in a triathlon.

“I was watching the Paralympics and wondered If I could do it and if I would be any good at it,’’ he said.

Maclean also revealed he has a nice connection with the sport dating back to the tough days after his accident.

“I did the Hawkesbury Classic with my buddy. It was 111km paddling. Now I'm in a single on my own.

“You need new challenges. We all do.’’

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