Recruitment Genius advertising consultant Paul Gallihawk, who tragically died while competing in a triathlon on Saturday, has been labelled a man of “outstanding character” with “great integrity”.

Speaking to Recruiter this morning, Recruitment Genius founder Geoff Newman said: “He was a man of outstanding character… all in all, he always had great integrity … he never compromised on his integrity and so for me he always had a win, even if he didn't get the business.”

Gallihawk was competing in the Ocean Lake sprint triathlon in Kent on Saturday when he went missing during the swimming stage. His body was found in Leybourne Lakes on Monday.

A Kent Police spokesperson told Recruiter the force was still compiling a report, which would be passed on to the coroner to take into consideration when determining the cause of death, adding the incident was being treated as a non-suspicious death.

The body has been formally identified as Gallihawk. 

Newman said Gallihawk joined the online recruiter about five years ago as its second employee.

“He very quickly became an integral member of our team. He was greatly admired and respected as both a friend and a colleague and he brought a lot of happiness to our office and those moments, we will certainly cherish.”

This was his first triathlon, though Newman describes him as fit and active - cycling to work, working out in the gym and doing triathlon-specific training. 

“So he thought at the time he was well prepared,” Newman said.

He explained Gallihawk was competing to raise money for London's King's College Hospital.

“Last year, his father, who thankfully is still with us, was very ill at King's [College] Hospital… he only really expected to reach a [fundraising] target of £300.”

As of 12.30pm today, over £13.5k had been raised via his Just Giving page.

Newman added: “There isn't a single person in our team that doesn't feel the loss and we'd like to pass on our condolences to his family and close friends.”

The Guardian reports Gallihawk is survived by his parents Malcolm and Linda, brother Nick, and girlfriend of five years, Hayley Wright. 

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