Alex Rance’s surprising new sporting passion revealed
He recently revealed his shock new career, but Alex Rance has plenty more on his plate. The former top Tiger is embarking on a new sporting pursuit, post-retirement.
Fiona Byrne
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Richmond star Alex Rance is reportedly setting himself a surprise new sporting challenge after walking away from the AFL bubble.
Rance, who closed the chapter on his decorated footy career in December to focus on his personal life and his business, The Academy, is now understood to be preparing to compete in a triathlon.
The former top Tiger has been training for the endurance test having been spotted getting plenty of miles into his legs on hard runs around particular Melbourne suburbs recently.
The idea of Rance challenging himself with a triathlon is not as random as it may seen.
He competed in triathlons when he was growing up in Perth and is obviously dedicated to his health and fitness.
Last week, Rance made another surprise announcement, that he would be leading a trek to Nepal in November.
The trek, being run by Health and Fitness Holidays, Entertainment By Vin and Kokoda Courage will see 20 adventurers trek the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas with the Richmond great.
The Annapurna Circuit is one of the most famous treks in Nepal. Not surprisingly, the trek is fully sold out.
Vin Handley from Entertainment By Vin said he had originally sounded Rance out about leading a trek in 2019.
“We touched base with Alex last year and he was interested but he had footy ahead of him at that stage,” Mr Handley said.
“This year, now that his circumstances have changed, he decided it was a challenge he wanted to take on.
“We did not want to oversaturate the group on his first trip, so we capped it at 20 places.
“It sold out in 48 hours after we had more than 500 inquiries from all over the world.
“There are people on the trek from Dubai, China and France as well as Australia.”
Just days ago, Mr Handley, along with Health and Fitness Holidays, announced a Thailand adventure for 14 people with Steve “Commando” Willis.
“We reached out to Commando via a mutual friend and two emails and one phone call later he was on board,” Handley said.
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While Rance’s decision in December to quit footy stunned fans, it was certainly not the first time he had thought about life outside of the AFL.
In 2015, he wrestled with the idea of packing in the game for plans to backpack across the world and focus on his faith.
In a 2018 interview, he said of footy: “Football provides me with so many opportunities to do things, but it also takes away a lot of things.
“To be no-one would be nice for a while.”