Endurance star Caroline Livesey plots double assault on triathlon and gravel cycling after stunning year of success

British endurance athlete Caroline Livesey has reflected on her impressive season of success by confirming that she will continue to compete in both triathlon and gravel cycling next year.

Delighted with how her year has panned out, she has achieved success in both disciplines and recently signed off the campaign in style by winning the very first UCI Gravel World Series cycle race to be held in Thailand.

Battling across the Muang Sing Historical Park in the city of Kanchanaburi in ‘brutal’ rain and ‘huge floods’, the Scot took the 130km Dustman event to cap an incredible 12 months.

First-ever UCI winner in Thailand

For Livesey, the honour of being the first ever woman to win a UCI Gravel World Series race in Thailand follows up on her incredible feat last year when she became the first athlete to win the Patagonman XTRI twice.

Regarded as the ‘world’s most extreme triathlon’ – the full-distance event sees athletes swim 3.8 kilometres in the Aysén Fjord, cycle 180km along the famous Carretera Austral and then run 42.2km – she followed up her win in 2022 by repeating the feat last December.

Livesey was also crowned Scottish National Gravel Champion 2025 earlier this year, as she won the inaugural championships held just south of Glasgow. But despite her success on the gravel, she is not about to give up on triathlon.

Speaking to Tri247 from Nepal – where she is currently working with Peak Education Nepal, the charity that she founded with her husband Mark to give youngsters the opportunity of a proper education – she explained there was still a real hunger for the multi-discipline sport.

“This past year has been surprising in many ways, but what remains constant for me is my enthusiasm for swim/bike/run,” she said. “Training and competing at a high level in triathlon for so many years has given me the endurance springboard to allow me to compete in gravel.

Excited for what 2026 will bring

“I’ve worked hard to develop the bike skills needed, and this year has seen some of that come to fruition. Finishing the year on a high in Thailand was special. I’ve really enjoyed all my races this year, and I’m excited for 2026.

“There will be some new challenges next year, as well as a mix of triathlon and single-day gravel racing. I am also committed to fundraising for the charity I founded, Peak Education Nepal. That cause gives me extra motivation.”

Her gravel cycling skills were certainly put to the test in Thailand, as she slid her way to victory in conditions that she described as a ‘full-on mud fest’.

Posting on her Instagram account, she said: “This is the first time Thailand has been host to a @ucigravelworldseries race, and when the opportunity came up for me to race, I couldn’t refuse. I’m so glad I came; it’s been a special week.

“The race itself was a full-on mud fest adventure. Wading through rivers, sliding about on mud, hitting huge floods hoping they had a bottom, failing to stay upright a couple of times, being pelted by heavy rain and soaked to the bone with grit in every pore – this was not a race for the faint-hearted.

‘I found myself grinning and genuinely loving it’

“Two years ago, I wouldn’t have had the skills to ride well in those conditions; I’d probably have hated it. But I found myself grinning and genuinely loving it, embracing it for the unique day it was.”

With a small professional field lining up in Kanchanaburi, it was the method of her win and the fact that she was made to battle the elements as well as her fellow riders that truly made the victory something special.

“I had the best tyres coupled with a fantastic bike, and I’m really happy with how strong I felt for the whole race,” she added. “So while this was only a small race, the real win for me was that I could commit 100%, take risks, push hard, and enjoy it so much. Tank empty, heart full.

“This race also reminded me that gravel racing is as much about having experience with kit and equipment as it is about being able to hold power.

“There were a lot of people with the wrong tyres for the job, but I suppose Dustman was a bit of a misnomer. Slicks in those conditions were a death trap, and sadly, there were a lot of DNFs.”

Livesey crossed the line in 4:50:32, ahead of Australians Dimityle Duke (5:08:52) and Sofia Erhard (5:46:24), while Japanese mountain bike national champion Toki Sawada took the men’s title in 4:07:52, with Danish rider Tobias Moerch Kongstad second (4:11:10) and Rick Nobel of the Netherlands completing the podium (4:18:35).