My journey in triathlon
I am extremely fortunate to have spent eight years racing at an elite level in triathlon from 2014 to 2021. I took part in my first ever triathlon aged 11 at the Hatch End Triathlon – an event that I went on to compete in every year from 2000-2010 and again in 2013 and 2014 when I took first place overall, including the men!
I never swam competitively as I child I and joined my first running club Watford Harriers in 2005 and my first triathlon club Jetstream Tri Club the same year. I enjoyed competing for fun and won the London Region Youth Triathlon Series in 2005 and 2006 which led to me representing the London Region at the National Inter-Regional Championships (2005 and 2006). I took part in a few national level junior elite races in 2007 and 2008 finishing towards the end of the field and feeling very out of my depth in fields full of Britain’s top athletes, world champions and Olympians when I was aged only 17/18 and didn’t have a clue about anything!
Aged 19 I stumbled across Age Group racing and went to the European Sprint Triathlon Champs in Athlone, Ireland in 2010. I spent the next three years representing GB in Age Group Championships at European and World Championships which took me to Hungary, Spain, Israel, New Zealand and Canada. My best result was achieving gold to become European 20-24 AG Sprint Triathlon Champion in Israel in 2012. On the same night I was awarded Oxford Brookes University Sportswoman of the Year, for the second year running.
In the summer of 2013 I started training with a Triathlon coach and squad for the first time ever and joined a swimming club (Hillingdon SC) and got stuck in with the kids sessions and the 4.30am alarms. Only a couple of months into training I was selected to represent GB at an elite level for the first time competing in the U23 ITU World Aquathlon Championships in Hyde Park where I finished 4th. This left me hungry for more and having already made huge improvements after a couple of months of 'proper training' I was excited to see where I could get with a full winter of training behind me ready for the next season. I made the decision to juggle full-time training with part-time work as an Osteopath.
2014 was my first season competing at an elite level and I finished the year with a silver and bronze from the European and World Aquathlon Champs and 7th overall in the British Super Series. In 2015 I went one better to take Gold at the European Aquathlon Championships and finished 6th overall in the British Super Series. In 2016 I finished on the podium at Blenheim, Hever Castle, Eastbourne and Majorca Triathlons as well as a Bronze at the European Aquathlon Champs. I was lucky to get a place on Chateauroux French team and raced all of the French Grand Prix Series that year. I had one of my best swims of my life coming out of the water in 4th place just behind, now Olympic medallist, Vicky Holland. I was lucky to race for Chateauroux for six years and over 16 races, memories that will last with me forever.
In 2017 I won gold at the European Aquathlon Championships and finished 4th and 5th at British Duathlon and Triathlon Champs. In 2018 I achieved my best result in a European Cup (10th), a silver medal at the World Aquathlon Champs and my first British Champs medal with a bronze at Cardiff. I had my best ever French Grand Prix result finishing 16th in Quiberon. I finished 2018 ranked number 1 in the world for Aquathlon.
In 2019 I was selected to represent Team GB at the inaugural World Beach Games in Doha for Aquathlon, an event which I unfortunately DNFd in after collapsing with heat stroke and spending several nights in hospital in Doha before being allowed to return home where I had to continue to be monitored for several months.
COVID disrupted the 2020 season and despite some really consistent training I only got to compete in one race – an Olympic distance at Hever Castle Triathlon where I got a bronze medal. I was extremely lucky to be able to keep swimming during the second lockdown which enabled me to start the 2021 season with some reasonable fitness but following one French Grand Prix race and two British Super Series races I made the decision to retire from elite triathlon.
I am extremely proud of what I achieved in my short triathlon career. It’s only when stopping to look back at results that I can truly appreciate what I worked hard to achieve. I spent most of the eight years plagued with injuries – achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis and bone stress fractures to name a few – but despite all of this I was still able to compete and pick up medals. I have some of the best memories with some wonderful people travelling the world. I’m lucky to have competed in Sweden, Denmark, Madeira, Hungary, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Netherlands, USA, Germany and France. I’ll always be extremely grateful to Xavier Berenger who gave me the opportunities to race for Chateauroux back in 2016 and for the years following.
When people ask me what I miss most about competing – I always say it’s the people I met and the travel I got to do, as well as being lucky to have spent all my days swimming, biking and running. I miss the sense of achievement completing sessions that on paper looked disgustingly hard but were so satisfying to complete. When racing you always want more so it’s hard to appreciate the good days at the time – you finish 16th but believe you are capable of a top10 – you get a top10 and think you can get a podium, so you’re never satisfied and always striving for more. I didn’t reach all of my goals, and that’s ok, but I can be satisfied with what I did achieve and that has enabled me to walk away from the sport with a love for triathlon still and as a huge fan of the sport.