How did it all begin?
First of all let me you tell how the story began to make me who I am today. 34 years ago on the 20th July 1978 I was born to the most amazing, motivational and inspiring parents. Without them I would not be the driven, hardworking and passionate person that I am. They are two of the best role models who have worked hard to achieve their goals, one of which was bringing up 5 incredibly successful children. As a child I preferred to “have fun” rather than work hard and recall a tale of locking myself in the Wendy house so that I could cook rather than do my maths at school. I gave my parents grief and frustrations as they tried to encourage me to use my natural talents rather than waste them. I began swimming at an early age – well I say swimming, I believe my parents would say “bouncing” along the bottom of the pool – A trait my eldest son seems to have adopted already. I took to swimming like a fish to water and excelled at it. I swam for a local club and from there my county. At 11 I went away to school at The Cheltenham Ladies College where I swam for the school from the first year until the last when I captained the school team. I swum for a brief period with Gloucester Swimming Club but my heart was starting to turn towards a different sport – rowing and I also began to realise I would not get anywhere without my academic qualifications so put my head into my A-levels.
After school I took a year out working in India in Bangalore and took a secretarial course in Oxford just in case my career path of becoming a physiotherapist did not work. I attended Nottingham University in 1997-2000 where I met some truly amazing people- Nottingham University Boat Club, you know who you are. I rowed at university but still do not think that my head and body really understood how to work hard. Rowing did however give me an amazing group of like minded friends all just as crazy me. I graduated in 2000 with a Bsc (Hons) Physiotherapy degree and moved to London for a brief stint as a Junior whilst waiting for a rotational post in Oxford. In April 2001 I moved to Oxford to take up a rotational physiotherapy post. It was here that I joined City of Oxford Rowing Club and I begun to understand the meaning of proper training. The first time I completed those circuits my legs burned and ached but I was not going to give up and admit defeat. I had to show that I was strong and better than everyone else. Still then those dead lifts gave me grief and I have yet to master the art of actually using my legs! The time at City of Oxford was amazing and again introduced me to some incredibly talented, bloody minded people who remain our friends today. Many of whom continue their training in different ways but with the same strong mentality they had when they rowed. We entered regattas and head races and pot hunted galore winning many events. I raced at Women’s Henley Regatta – well I say raced, those of you girlies who raced in the quad with me remember that! I also raced at Strathclyde at the National Championships in a single scull and spent the whole race in tears – it was horrific. Following this I raced in a double at the National Championships completing it whilst vomiting out the front of the boat. Happy days. Looking back on those times I have one man to thank for the mentality and pure ability to push myself that I have adopted now – Mick Brind, I have never thanked you but if you read this I now have.
At City of Oxford I meet the most incredible, amazing and caring man – my husband Dave. Without him I would never have been able to achieve what I do at work or in my triathlon. He is a brilliant husband, dad and an even better statistician of mine and my competitor’s results. He has the patience of a saint especially when trying to explain how to change gears on my bike. The number of arguments we had on rides last year whilst he tried to tell me how to change from the small to the big cog. I still don’t understand it and rely on the terms left and right hand.
Over the next few years we got married and had four children VERY close together. We moved from Oxford to High Wycombe and then to Reading. My sporting career and physiotherapy career took a back seat but I did continue to work in outpatients, for Henley Rugby club and attend the gym baby seat in tow. I cycled on my static bike whilst feeding a baby and rowed on our erg in between baby’s sleeping. I began to think about how much I would love to do a triathlon but the reality just scared me or the idea of getting back into a boat but this was just not practical with the children.
Following the birth of our fourth child in 2010 I started to get my fitness back on track, training in the gym mainly and swimming on the odd occasion.
During this period I was in conversation with a friend from when I worked at Henley RFC, Pete Hill. As I remember it, he had agreed to be part of a team competing in a triathlon managed by a gentleman name David Edington, his uncle. David was raising money for The Foundation Centre (Guildford) where he was being treated for an incurable cancer of the oesophagus. Somehow in a blur I somehow agreed to be the reserve for the team consisting of Charlie Morrow (run), Giles Cunningham (cycle) and Pete (swim) (http://www.justgiving.com/David-Edington). Following this crazy decision I felt the need to clarify to David that I had not actually ever done a triathlon but was keen to complete one. We spoke about triathlons and rowing as he told me proudly about how his daughter, Jennie, competed at both sports and he began to grow my enthusiasm in the sport. I vouched from there on in to train to get my fitness levels ready just in case the team needed me to compete in July 2011. David sadly passed away in 2011 but I have not forgotten his wise words and often find myself thinking about them whilst doing my training sessions.
On the back of this my husband and I decided we would therefore enter some triathlons and just give it a go. We entered Dorney Supersprint in May 2011, Henley, the Concorde and Reading 2011 all at a sprint distance. We had to fill in a time for 400m swim for each of the races and my husband and I decided, having never timed ourselves that I did about 9mins. Little did I realise that actually the time was nearer 6mins! I had an elbow operation in February 2011 and then aimed to get back on track ready for the first ever triathlon. Having never swum in open water, never raced a bike or even ridden a road bike nor, other than school running races, run a competitive race I completed and WON my first triathlon with a hired wetsuit that was so small it was ridiculous and rode on my husband’s bike with trainers, much to the disgust of my competitors. I achieved more than I ever thought I would that season and completed it with a win at Reading Sprint Triathlon.
I made the decision that maybe I could go further and joined a fantastic and highly supportive club in the form of Tri20 – yet again made up of some highly driven and crazy but fabulous people. I also met the man who would change what I considered was training into a more structured, more effective system – my coach Clive Alderson. Clive has had to endure many hours of my talkative, mental personality and has successfully managed to slow my pace down somewhat so that I am now training far more effectively and getting stronger and stronger in each discipline. An area that he has tried the hardest is my transitions – the least said about those the better. I qualified for the Age Group World Championships in sprint distance in May this year and my husband sold his life possessions to get me a gorgeous TT bike in the form of my Planet X. I then came 2nd in my age group at Windsor and further qualified for the Worlds in my first ever standard distance race at Deva coming 3rd in my age group. Now the work begins!