Tim Gray – 2nd Highest Placed Brit in 2014 World Championships Looks forward to Chicago and Offers Some Advice to Other Wannabe GB Age Groupers
I was inspired to try and qualify for the World Championships following the 2012 Olympics. Last year was my first serious push towards qualification and I managed to get to get the Q4 position at Dambuster for the Worlds in Edmonton. Although I’d put myself up for selection, I didn’t think that I’d done enough – so when the news came through that I had, you can imagine the excitement!
In Edmonton, I managed to finish second highest Brit in my AG which meant I automatically qualified for Chicago 2015. I can remember getting the news after the race. I’d managed to finish in my target time (2.15) and had nailed one of the three all-important automatic qualification spots – there were tears, I’m not embarrassed to say! (These rules change slightly this year onwards but at least I started this season knowing that I was definitely going to Chicago) In fact, pretty much as soon as I got back from Edmonton, I started laying the foundations for Chicago with Mark’s help, following a structured training plan which I hadn’t actually done before! I set myself some clear goals for target times in each discipline over the standard distances and have been working towards these ever since with some really good results.
My race is the Men’s Standard Distance event on Saturday 19th September and I’m in the 45 – 49 age group.
Tips: The European Champs are more competitive to qualify for than the Worlds in my experience. Also, cost does come into it. Unless you have sponsors, the cost of competing is down to you. This can be an issue since it may almost certainly cost as much to compete as a family holiday! Have a look at qualification races for this year and judge your performance against the top 10 finishers in your AG – a top 10 position will put you in a good position to qualify since not everyone will be going for a qualification place. You’ll have to decide for yourself if you think that you can give your training enough time in the coming six months to close any gaps to get you competitive enough to be in with a chance. For those who are at the top end of their AG this year, next season will see you the youngest in the next AG up. If this is you then you will have the best possible chance to qualify since everyone else will be older (and perhaps a bit slower) than you. In my experience though, with the right coaching plan and most importantly, motivation, anything is possible.
