After Lausanne, my next race was probably the biggest of the season so far on the National circuit, held at Mallory Park. It was the last race of the super series and also doubled up as the World Champs Qualifier race, so it was important to execute a good race. I was going into the race with confidence after Lausanne, which really did give me a boost. The course was very technical and it was almost certain that a split was going to happen, so I was just hoping to be on the right side of it.
I came out of the water 2nd, but missed my bike in transition and this nearly cost me front pack. I had to dig in hard on the first lap of the bike to get onto the lead group of 3. Luckily I managed it and we got away as a 4. The gap increased quite quickly over the first few laps of 6 and continued to go out steadily over the remainder of the cycling leg.
Going out onto the first of 4 run laps my legs felt pretty tired, but after getting into my rhythm I started to feel alright. I let a little gap go to 1st and 2nd at the very beginning, which was Livvy Mathias and French athlete Jessica Fullugar, who had won in Lausanne the previous weekend. This meant I was running solo for the rest of the run, knowing I had to limit the time I was behind the front and keep ahead of fast chasers behind me. I was motivated to push knowing that there was a World champs place on the cards and not wanting to lose it, and also a comment my mum and dad had made previously about the possibility of getting a puppy (this may or may not have been serious but in my eyes it was motivation enough to dig as deep as I could). I was really pleased to finish 3rd in the race and also 2nd in the British Championships. It was a bit of a waiting game to see whether I got one of the spaces for Worlds and I am happy to say that I did, I have been selected to represent GB in Rotterdam in a couple of weeks time, along with Livvy, Kate and Erin. Its going to be a really good way to finish off my Junior career.
My next race was the mixed relay cup in Nottingham, representing Loughborough II. This was a really big event, broadcast live on BBC One. We would be racing teams from all over the country and even international teams, such as Canada and Australia. Our team consisted of Livvy Mathias, Barclay Izzard, myself and James Teagle on the anchor leg. We had a strong start, with Livvy passing over in 9th, coming in with a very strong pack that wasn't strung out too much after the first leg. Off next was Barclay, who again had a really good race and passed over to me in 10th. By this time in the race it was very strung out, so this meant I had a solo effort for the whole of my race. I could see a pair just up the road on the bike but I wasn't quite able to bridge the gap up to them. I worked as hard as I could and tried to work transitions as much as possible to try make marginal gains. I handed over to James in 10th, and once again he had a solo effort. He had a super first 2 legs and ran really well to bring us up into 9th place. Overall it was such a good atmosphere and experience, I really hope the event is here to stay. It was also great to see Loughborough 1 get onto the podium, a great effort from all. The next couple of weeks is just about getting some decent work in and getting ready for Worlds, which I am super excited about.
After Lausanne, my next race was probably the biggest of the season so far on the National circuit, held at Mallory Park. It was the last race of the super series and also doubled up as the World Champs Qualifier race, so it was important to execute a good race. I was going into the race with confidence after Lausanne, which really did give me a boost. The course was very technical and it was almost certain that a split was going to happen, so I was just hoping to be on the right side of it.
I came out of the water 2nd, but missed my bike in transition and this nearly cost me front pack. I had to dig in hard on the first lap of the bike to get onto the lead group of 3. Luckily I managed it and we got away as a 4. The gap increased quite quickly over the first few laps of 6 and continued to go out steadily over the remainder of the cycling leg.
Going out onto the first of 4 run laps my legs felt pretty tired, but after getting into my rhythm I started to feel alright. I let a little gap go to 1st and 2nd at the very beginning, which was Livvy Mathias and French athlete Jessica Fullugar, who had won in Lausanne the previous weekend. This meant I was running solo for the rest of the run, knowing I had to limit the time I was behind the front and keep ahead of fast chasers behind me. I was motivated to push knowing that there was a World champs place on the cards and not wanting to lose it, and also a comment my mum and dad had made previously about the possibility of getting a puppy (this may or may not have been serious but in my eyes it was motivation enough to dig as deep as I could). I was really pleased to finish 3rd in the race and also 2nd in the British Championships. It was a bit of a waiting game to see whether I got one of the spaces for Worlds and I am happy to say that I did, I have been selected to represent GB in Rotterdam in a couple of weeks time, along with Livvy, Kate and Erin. Its going to be a really good way to finish off my Junior career.
