HE may have swam 2.4miles in Lake 32, cycled 112 miles around the water park and then finished with a 26.2 looped run into South Cerney but one Cirencester man still had the energy to propose at the finish line.

Love was in the air as Matthew Tibbles got down on one knee at the and asked Sophie Spriggs to be his wife in front of a crowd of smiling spectators at the Cotswold 226 triathlon on August 10.

An elated Sophie, who is a teacher at Powell’s Primary School in Cirencester, took no time at all in saying yes.

She explained that the proposal came as a complete surprise but is one that she had no hesitation in saying yes to as she had been waiting for it for a long time.

“It was so exciting and thrilling and I manage to squeal out yes. He was just smiling when I said that,” she said.

“I though there was something wrong with him when he got down in one knee.

“When he stepped back beforehand I thought no what are you doing, he had planned this for long. He drove up to my parents in January to ask for their blessing.

“I was waiting for such a long time, now it is here I am flabbergasted.

For someone who has encouraged it for so long I am absolutely shell shocked.”

She explained that Matthew had taken special precautions to ensure that the engagement was kept safe as he was making it round the course.

She said: “He had taken the ring on the whole course with him. It was in a little transparent bag in his pocket.”

Sophie added that she does not have a date for the wedding as yet but she expected it to happen next year or the year after.