A triathlete is set to swap his trainers and bike for the pulpit as he becomes the minister of a busy Edinburgh church.

Dr Robin Sydserff, 39, who completed the city’s New Year’s Day triathlon this year, will be ordained and inducted to serve at St Catherine’s Argyle Church, Grange Road, on Friday night.

He spent part of his training for the ministry at the church, and there is a sense of homecoming about his appointment.

He commented: “Local church ministry was always my first love, and I feel a sense of calling coming back to St Catherine’s after spending 15 months here as a student and four years in London as director of ministry at The Proclamation Trust.”

Dr Sydserff, a former accounting lecturer at Heriot-Watt University, said he was excited by the potential of the students in the area, and that he hopes to reach out with the gospel to the local community and beyond.

The previous minister, Rev Victor Laidlaw, retired in April 2008 after 33 years with St Catherine’s Argyle.

Dr Sydserff will be preached in on Sunday morning by Rev Dick Lucas of London, and will take his first service as minister later that evening.