Daily Archives: 21/05/2015

New Member – Louisa Bell

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lbI did my first triathlon a couple of years ago after I began open water swimming at Shepperton (beating Peter Bell in my first, and now last, swimming race against him!). For the past 6 years I had been focussing on running – more of a plodder than anything else – and thought it would be nice to branch out. I have worked to conquer my fear of cycling but still don’t spend enough time on it since I much prefer running and swimming. Over the past 2 seasons I have done a total of 9 triathlons and worked up to a standard distance one last September. This season I am keen to actually start improving rather than simply being pleased to get round so have been working on my swimming and had a video swimming lesson a couple of weeks ago and have also being doing spin classes to work on the muscles without quite so much of the fear. Hoping the club sessions will help push me a bit harder. Next race is the 5km swim at Eton Dorney at the end of the month.

Welcome to the Viceroys Louisa.

Race Report – St Neots – British Sprint Championships

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FullSizeRenderWith over 900 people descending on St Neots and the river Ouse for a triple header for British Championship honours and world & European qualifiers, the best of the best where looking to set a marker at the beginning of the season. I was off in the fourth wave with over 170 across two age groups. In 13.5 degrees the swim was hectic and cold. I struggled over the first 375m to find any rhythm and unfortunately gave away a little distance to a couple of strong swimmers. Not phased I turned back upstream and closed the gap.

With a fast T1 I moved into third place and throughout the course of the ride I could see the top two in the distance. Over the final 5km I closed the gap and moved into second but the overall winner had also pushed on. As we came into T2 I was side by side to the other athlete. A solid transition I looked to exit transition and focus on my run. The other guy flew out and got a small gap. I wasn’t concerned as I was moving well off a hard bike so I was confident I would catch him. Which I did at the end of lap 1. I looked to maintain the pace knowing it was good enough to catch him and save some for the final 1km. I pushed hard and set my best run split to date and came on in 2nd place and AG Silver medalist. I’ve beaten the winner before but on this day he was the better man and well deserved – I will get him next time.
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Although I’d already qualified for the worlds, it was nice gain a silver medal and also my European place for Lisbon 2016. The season now can progress with everything nicely in place

Thanks for your support and I will be back in touch after my next race at Eton Dorney

Mark