Meet the pro triathlete tipped for Oscars success next month

Three-time XTERRA world champion Lesley Paterson hasn’t always had things her own way.

In the early days of her triathlon career she struggled to make an impression in draft-legal racing, before a move to XTERRA eventually saw her realise her true potential.

The Scot later suffered from chronic Lyme disease, but battled on to continue competing and performing well on the world stage.

Alongside all of that, Lesley has been following another passion – screenwriting.

Now, after 16 years of hard work, her project, All Quiet on the Western Front, has finally made it onto screens around the world.

It’s proved popular among both critics and the public, and currently has 14 Bafta nominations and nine Oscars nominations.

With awards season in full swing, we caught up to Lesley to hear about the highs and lows of her triathlon career, what her Hollywood journey has been like and how her two passions coexist.

Where it all began

I’ve been in triathlon for 30-something years. I got into triathlon because of my dad. I started off in rugby when I was seven years old and then when I could no longer play with the boys my dad got me into a local triathlon club in Stirling, Scotland. I was pretty good pretty quick and ended up in the Scottish team and the British team where I was on funding.

Of course, being a drafting race and not coming from a swimming background that was a bit of a challenge. I missed out on getting to the Commonwealth Games and ended up giving triathlon up when I was 21. At the same time I got married, my husband got a job in San Diego and we moved out there together. I’d studied drama at university and when I was in California I went back to school and did my master’s degree in theatre and film.

A successful return to multisport

I always knew I wanted to go into film, so I started pursuing that, acting, writing, producing… and then I found my way back into triathlon by way of XTERRA. I jumped back into that in my mid-twenties. I had a lot of unfinished business in triathlon.

XTERRA suited me. It was a lot of climbing (I’m small and light), it was off-road, it was dynamic. I did really well and that’s where I won all my world titles. I grew up running over the hills in Scotland so I was very much about being in nature. I loved the terrain, I loved hills, and of course in road triathlons a lot of the races are flat. It suited all my skills.

I won XTERRA Worlds in 2011. That was the first one. It was really like, ‘holy s**t, this is my dream come true’. Probably an even bigger moment for me was the repeat in 2012.

As an athlete you’re always like, ‘s**t, was that just a fluke?’ To come back in with all that pressure… I had the best race of my life to be honest. I ended up going and doing professional mountain biking as well. I turned into the athlete I always wanted to be.

A new perspective

I suffered from chronic Lyme disease. After 2012 when I won, I had some amazing races but then fell really ill toward the back end of 2013 into 2014 and had the whole season off. I had a lot of nerve pain and then went on this journey of trying to fix myself. It was long, arduous and awful, going from the height of a career to literally lying in bed, not able to get out of it.

It’s not something that you just get rid of. It presents itself in many ways. The nerve pain I had in my backside lasted for about eight years. While I raced, and still did well, I was always in a lot of pain.

One of the biggest things I learned from the entire journey was just absolute gratitude. When you’re at the height of the high and then it’s taken from you, and all you want to do is go out and run and– forget competing – just do what you love, and that’s taken away, you have a different outlook. Where I’m at now is I just truly love this sport. Any time I get to do it I’m truly grateful.

Balancing Hollywood and triathlon

Last year I wasn’t going to race and then I won the national XTERRA championship in the US and did really well. Our film [All Quiet on the Western Front] was premiering in Zurich a week before the XTERRA World Championship in Italy, so I decided to do both, the red carpet one week and the world championship the next week. I came fourth which, considering all the girls now are half my age, I’m quite happy with that.

I’m an underdog. It’s all about fighting back, grittiness and overcoming the odds. That’s my racing style. I’m dogged. I never give up. And that’s it’s the same with my film career.

I’ve always done film, it’s just ebbed and flowed depending on the demands of my athletic career. Lately it’s become a lot more serious and a lot more successful. We optioned the rights to the book [All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque] 16 years ago and went on a crazy journey to both write the adaptation and get it off the ground. In 2019 the opportunity came along with this specific director, Edward Burger, to really get it going. And that was what took it to the next level.

I’ve always loved war films, but this was such a poetic novel that has such potent themes that transcend the country that it’s from. You know, the betrayal of a youthful generation by the upper brass. It’s told from the other side, from the German perspective. We never see that, but it’s important. It’s a true anti-war film that takes you on a visceral experience of what war is like.

There are loads of transferable skills you can take from triathlon into film. Dedication, durability, never giving up, overcoming your fears, structure, focusing on mastering a craft… You’re using the skills of becoming a world champion; ‘how did I think outside the box to make that happen?’ It’s the same in film.

A promising future

What’s totally cool [about the award nominations] is that it’s worldwide. Everyone knows about the Oscars, right? It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, being nominated for an Oscar is like, ‘holy s**t’! Whereas triathlon is quite a small sport; it’d be like winning an Olympic gold medal. It feels pretty special to be on that world stage.

We still have a triathlon coaching business [Braveheart Coaching]. We have other coaches that help us. You know, we want to keep that going. It’s such a huge part of our passion and identity. We’re just going to have to have more help as we move more into film.

All Quiet on the Western Front is streaming now on Netflix. It’s been nominated for 14 Baftas and 9 Oscars.

Top image credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for ITU