My day job as a freelance TV producer is often described as being 'a master of everything and nothing' and similarly at school I did averagely well at everything, but never excelled. It was only when I discovered triathlons that I realised being good in various areas can really pay off. Coming from a very sporty and competitive family, our holidays were spent water-skiing, sailing, enduring 5hr walks and skiing, and being the youngest of 3, I always felt like I had to work harder to keep up with my big brother and sister. Sport fell by the wayside in college and university, favouring boys and beer instead. Even my ‘sporty’ seasons of skiing and diving after University did nothing but improve my alcohol tolerance.
My TV career had kicked off to a great start in London and I was soon working on prime-time programmes and travelling the world, but it was all-consuming and I wanted to find something else to get my teeth into. A good friend of mine – Supermum Andrea – had decided to do a sprint triathlon to raise money for a charity, and soon after I had signed up to my first sprint triathlon at London in August 2010. Training got underway and I joined a local tri-club with my work friend Colin. At first it was incredibly intimidating, the sessions, the gear, not to mention the speed of everyone across each discipline. Colin and I suffered at the back of the weekend runs, enjoying the views but wondering if we would ever get up with the fast boys at the front. There was a huge amount to get used to; clip in pedals, unflattering trisuits, not to mention that 5.30am alarm I was quickly becoming used to.
My first sprint at London was a big success, coming 6th in my age group and 24th overall, finishing in 1hr 27mins. I loved every minute of it, and felt hungry for more. In the autumn the party season kicked off and then a fall down the stairs at work resulted in some torn ligaments which stopped training until Spring the following year. Once recovered, 2011 was my first Olympic distance year and I took training a lot more seriously, doing a number of training races: sprints, 3/4 distance, aquathons and 10k's, taking every race seriously and learning from mistakes. My confidence grew tremendously, coming first in my age group at the 3/4 Bananaman triathlon, 2nd at Windsor and 3rd at Eton, as I got closer to the big race. My first Olympic distance was daunting and painful, but I crossed the line in 2hr 31, 11th in my age group. I was hungry for more.
This year, I decided to see how far I could push myself in the world of amateur triathlon competition. My triathlon club, (Clapham Chasers), had several success stories of age-groupers who raced at the Europeans and Worlds. Inspired, and confident that I was committed to train hard and be even faster, I boldly registered with the BTF to qualify for the age-group world championships this year. I threw everything into it. I got a triathlon coach, Dawn Hunter, a swimming coach, Ray Gibbs, and I stole my boyfriend's TT bike. My 15 hour a week training schedule began in March. Like a lot of athletes, I have had a few hiccups with an ongoing hamstring injury, which has meant my running training has been limited to aqua jogging like an old lady, as well as some unfortunate DNFs at training races due to bike mechanicals. Despite this, I had a brilliant race at one of the qualifiers- Dambuster - in June and soon after saw the letter 'Q' appear next to my name on the BTF website - I was going to the World championships in New Zealand this October.
I could not have achieved what I have so far without the support of my tri buddies -Patrick, Raj, Colin, Andy, Rhi, Amy and Rich, my parents for always cheering me on and my brother (my arch rival who has now also taken up triathlons, as has my sister), and finally my very patient and supportive boyfriend Nico who keeps me going and joins me at 6am in the pool and park, what a star. Triathlons have really changed my life, giving me focus, challenging goals and another way to push myself outside my often all-consuming work. Oh, and I have thighs of steel and more manly shoulders as well!
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