Meet the Comrades: Natalie Van Coevorden
The Camino team continues to grow and this time we are thrilled to welcome Natalie Van Coevorden. A dedicated and disciplined triathlete hailing from Campbelltown who has overcome adversity that would have seen others turn their back on the triathlon. Natalie emulates the Camino way of “nothing comes for free”, based in Wollongong Nat’s story is inspiring and proves that with determination, hard work and the right mindset nothing is out of reach.
Nat has always been on the move, dancing from a young age before excelling in swimming training 9 times a week and competing in gruelling events such as 5km open water swims and national events. In 2008, Natalie went from a girl who walked cross country to representing NSW in the national championships before setting her sights on triathlon, excited by the opportunity to combine her talents in one sport.. At age 17 in 2010 Nat competed in her first triathlon. She has now come a long way from nearly failing her drafting license to now calling herself a professional athlete representing Australia all over the world and having her occupation set as “triathlete”.
In 2014, Nat overcame a hip arthroscopy and in this moment emulated what we stand for at Camino. “I suppose also having hip surgery at such a young age in my career was pretty daunting at first. I had some moments especially in the first few weeks that I did question if I come back especially when you can’t walk two steps without your crutches. I am very passionate about what I do and I knew I had some goals set for myself that I wanted to achieve so instead of seeing my injury as a hurdle, I took it as a refresh and Natalie 2.0. I stepped away from the triathlon bubble and regained confidence in areas that I needed work on before going back to racing.”
Nat trains with the high performance group known as the Wollongong Wizards led by Triathlon Australia’s International Performance Head Coach Jaime Turner. This group allows Nat to learn and be surrounded by the best in the world and has taught her to set her standards high not only as an athlete but also as a person. Nat enjoys being in a group where she is constantly being pushed to her limit and knows that every day she has done everything she can to become a better athlete.
This year Nat has notched up some stellar results including 1st at the OUT Triathlon Oceania Cup and Triathlon Oceania Championships, 5th at Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup, 3rd at ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi and 2nd in Devonport OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup and Sprint Triathlon Oceania Championships. These results have led to Nat sitting in 3rd place on the World Triathlon Series Ranking.
When Nat finds downtime in her whirlwind training schedule she enjoys having some time to herself, napping, reading a book or catching up on her favourite TV series. She likes to hunt down a good coffee with family and friends and catch up on their weekly adventures. If you jump over and follow Nat on Instagram or Facebook you’ll be sure to meet her beautiful puup Keesha who looks like an epic training partner for Nat.
Nat’s ultimate goal is to compete for Australia at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games and we feel extremely lucky to be able to help Nat each her full potential.
