‘I returned to Eton Dorney on the 17th of July for my second triathlon , my first ever had been the previous month in slightly different weather conditions. June was an early start with constant rain and winds , July a later start , warm and muggy.

Having not been able to swim a length at the Xcel a year ago I was always going to be apprehensive going in to the swim but once I had got that out of the way, I knew I was on my way to achieving my goal and completing my first ever TRI. Not sure of pacing etc , I managed  to complete the task in a final time of 1:24:27.

On my return to Dorney in July I felt more comfortable knowing what lay ahead plus having the support of my family there to cheer me on and Coach Yeoman along side me to offer some crucial words of wisdom and support I was determined not to embarrass myself too much in from of them all.

Instead of being at the back of the pack during the swim I realised I was actually in part of a group of swimmers so I must be doing better than last time , I was thinking of all Mark had taught us at Shepperton and was doing my best to try and drift in addition to stay on course !! Once out of the water and on the bike all seemed to be going well until T2 when I struggled to get my shoe off but after a bit of struggling I was back on my way with just the 5K run to complete.

I’ve neglected my running for some time for the sake of trying to learn to swim but managed to maintain a reasonable pace and passed a few guys , which is always a good way to finish a race.

As I crossed the finished line and checked my Garmin much to my surprise I had exceeded my previous outing by almost 9 minutes with a final time of 1:15:44 .

I was most pleased to see an improvement in my swim time by 3 .5 minutes and hope with continued coaching and training by next year to shave a few more minutes off and even try a longer distance .’

As raced and reported by Rich Jones