JESSICA THORPE WINS ENGLISH AQUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS
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15 July 2015 |
English Aquathlon Championships
Race Report
by Jessica Thorpe
This year English
Aquathlon Championships were held in Falmouth, Cornwall. Although a
long long way from London I felt on good form, having gained Silver
at European Championships in Germany a few weeks earlier so was
keen to race however far away it was. Cornwall is meant to be nice
for summer holidays anyway right?! As luck would have it English
summer weather delivered a classic race day of heavy rain and
wind.
The weather certainly
made a tough registration and warm up ahead of what was going to be
a pretty tough race...A fellow competitor described the event after
as a steep swim and a steep run. How right he was. With a mixed
start a few hundred athletes lined up on the beach waiting for the
gun. With elbows out to keep my space and the first hundred metres
of the swim full of fist fighting and dunking I finally reached
clear but very rough water. Unable to see any of the buoys I headed
out to sea hoping that I was heading in the right direction. After
nearly a 1km of rolling waves, rehydrating on sea water and
avoiding the enormous jelly fish I finally made it onto the beach
again for a quick transition and out onto the 5km run. 
Upon exiting transition I was told of #1 ranking which
came as a complete surprise as I certainly hadn't felt like I'd had
a good swim but also a massive energy burst for the next part of
the race. The run course led up along the coast then up a steep 1km
incline around the local castle and back down to the beach. From
here on I just focused on the guy in front and tried to hold onto
him for as long as possible and not let anyone overtake. Motivated
by all the superb marshals who stood in the pouring rain shouting
encouragement (as well as thoughts of a hot bath, breakfast,
sleep...) I finally found myself sprinting down a flight of steps
back onto the beach for a very sandy sprint finish. Certainly not
my most elegant race but I got the job done & that's all that
matters. I've now qualified to represent Great Britain at World
Championships in Chicago in September. Fingers crossed I can find
enough pennies to fund the trip and my form continues to improve.
Many thanks to the great team at Swiss for their coaching and
support to get me this far. Onwards &
upwards.
Upon exiting transition I was told of #1 ranking which
came as a complete surprise as I certainly hadn't felt like I'd had
a good swim but also a massive energy burst for the next part of
the race. The run course led up along the coast then up a steep 1km
incline around the local castle and back down to the beach. From
here on I just focused on the guy in front and tried to hold onto
him for as long as possible and not let anyone overtake. Motivated
by all the superb marshals who stood in the pouring rain shouting
encouragement (as well as thoughts of a hot bath, breakfast,
sleep...) I finally found myself sprinting down a flight of steps
back onto the beach for a very sandy sprint finish. Certainly not
my most elegant race but I got the job done & that's all that
matters. I've now qualified to represent Great Britain at World
Championships in Chicago in September. Fingers crossed I can find
enough pennies to fund the trip and my form continues to improve.
Many thanks to the great team at Swiss for their coaching and
support to get me this far. Onwards &
upwards.-JESS
