“I elected from the start that I was going to go out really, really hard and try and break everyone else’s spirits,” this husband, father and Biggest Loser contestant explains. “My idea was for the first 4km to go as quick as I possibly could. I think I’d done training here where I did 4km in 23 or so minutes, so I knew I could go reasonably well, but the first 4km I probably broke 20 minutes. My body was saying fatigue, fatigue, fatigue, but I still had 6km to go, so it was going to be hard.”

From the 4km mark onwards, Wayne dug in and pushed himself to that finish line. “I knew I was a fair way in front and I decided then that when we were going up steep hills, I’d power walk and then when we were going down the hills, I’d get back into a jog and just lengthen my stride,” he explains. “Once I got to 6km, I started to feel a little better. I had a drink, I refuelled, and then it was a matter of, ‘Gee, I’ve only got 3 or 4km to go’ to get to the line.”

For the more mature among us, Wayne’s win is indeed heartening. Wayne laughs, “I’m 43 years of age and I’ve beaten a few of the young guns here in their 20s, so I felt pretty good for the older brigade!”

Before the race, however, Wayne’s victory wasn’t a given from his point of view. Says the champion, “Not having done anything like that in such a long time, I didn’t know what physical pressure I could put my body under and how it would respond.”

Fortunately for Wayne, all his training paid off and his body and mind stepped up to the challenge. And his secret weapon? A fierce competitive streak. “I never enjoyed running but I’ve always been one who likes to compete,” he admits. “At high school when there was running, I may not have done much training but I always liked to compete. This time I’ve done a fair bit of training, so competing is the enjoyable part. I look forward to the 21km now and see if we can break the young guns’ hearts again, put another victory up for the old fellas!”

As for giving away his winner’s prize of three phone calls to his fellow contestants, Shannon, Lisa and Phil, Wayne has no regrets. “I wasn’t worried about the phone calls, it was just my decision that I thought I’d give a little bit back to some other people in the competition that have had nothing so far. Some people might say it was stupid but I certainly felt good about doing it, anyway.”

Stupid? We’d say kind and generous and are guessing the contestants, who because of Wayne had a chance to talk to their loved ones, would too. “They really appreciated it,” smiles Wayne. “They came up to me and they had tears in their eyes, so it made me feel good anyway.”

As ever in The Biggest Loser experience, there’s no chance to rest on your laurels and Wayne already has his eye on the next hurdle, “Weigh in Sunday night for the old fellow and we’ll see how we go!”