Thanks to Chris Frost (paratri cat 4), team mate at VO2 maximum for offering me a lift and a place to stay in Besancon, France for the ITU paratriathlon and to british triathlon for entering me. At the last minute we found out that the swim section was being canceled due to the current in the river being to strong so it got made into a duathlon, 5K run, 22.5 bike and 2.5 run to finish. It was a stella performance by Chris putting in a massive PB on the first run and a just as strong bike and second run. Well done Chris, Stella performance in a strong field mate! My performance in the run, bike, run was also strong coming 2nd fastest in both the run sections but let myself down with a massive bulls up in the first transition costing me 2 minutes. It wont happen again and will just learn from it, that's why they call transition the 4th discipline!!! Also learnt how important it is to actually ride the course beforehand. I had some good tips before the race from Chris as I had never ridden or drove in Europe so his advice was just keep saying right, right, right to myself coming up to roundabouts and junctions but still found it very confusing especially as we were racing and being shouted at in French. At one point myself and two other riders one Dutch the other Spanish I think were being shouted at by a marshal by a line that was marked out on the floor and we all thought it was the dismount line, so stopped then realised that the finish was further on so we all got back on again. It was a hilly and very technical bike course going through some small side streets with sharp corners and also some cobbles to test the nerves but loved the course. The 2 minutes I lost trying to get back into transition when I mucked up went on my bike time so very happy with the bike time at this point a strong time for me as it would have been about 40 minutes. There was allot of crashes probably because of the tight technical course in places and the torrential rain we had that morning!
Finish line and proud to be British!!
I am also very proud to say I have been selected to represent Great Britain at the European paratriathlon championships on the 16 June in Alanya, Turkey. I would like to say a big thank you to all my family who are always there to support me, friends both old and new who had belief in me, ATC my triathlon club who have helped me all the way, Paula my coach from VO2 maximum who has performed wonders already with her coaching and to British Triathlon for having confidence in me it means allot!
Bioscience exams now finish for this year, Mondays exam went brilliant, Tuesdays went okay and Wednesdays was not to brilliant, I new the subject just had problems elaborating and getting my point across in the answer. I'm sure it went okay though, exams aren't my strong point with dyslexia and even worse memory problems. Still looking for part time work preferably just very short hours so I can fit in uni too, the bills don't stop for nothing! A sponsor would be good to, one that wants to part with a time trial bike.... pretty please as my bike is a road tour bike and pretty heavy.... thanks:)
