July - Malory Park

The start of July started well in which I had my first international race out in Holten(please check out my previous blog on more info on the trip).However my main focus of the month was to qualify for the European Youth Championships , to do it I needed to get a top 3 finish at the Mallory park Super Series race.The race however was slightly different to normal with it being heats and finals of the super sprint distance ,therefore my main aim going into it was to conserve as much energy as possible in the heats and go all out in the final.


Learning on my previous disaster prior to the youth Olympic qualifier at Llanelli  (which has now been cancelled for triathlon) I made sure to go over my bike several time previous to the race and not mess anything up pre race day.This therefore lead me going into race day less stressed and allowed me to focus on race preparations  rather than sorting my bike out.


There were two heats in which top 16 in each qualified for the a final and the next 8 fastest losers in each heat also qualify.I luckily managed to get into heat two which meant I had a slightly less early start,and also had more time in between the bike recce and race start to warmup and properly set up my transition.I was seeded first going into the heats therefore made sure to get a good position at the start to get a good line, and hopefully also some clear water.The swim went well,in which I managed to settle in a good pack of swimmer near the front, and same in regards to the bike aswell. The run was also very easy as there was around 10 of us with a gap allowing the group to cruise into the line(however some people still surprisingly still sprinted for the finish),therefore leading me to qualify in 8 and seeded 16 for the final.

There was a long gap in between the heats and ,therefore I made sure to properly hydrate and eat to fully recover and give me the best chance of qualifying in the finals.


I luckily was seeded around some fast swimmer therefore made sure to go next to them at the swim start so I could draft them.The swim went pretty well in which I managed to get out of the water 6th , a couple of seconds back from the front group therefore I made sure to have a fast transition and hammer the first bit of the bike to catch up.I managed to settle into the pack which was made up of 6 people and stayed that way the whole of the bike.The course was very technical which I think suited me ,therefore I made sure going into the corners near the front which made it less effort accelerating out of the corners than being at the back.

Going into transition the pack slightly split apart as the pace increased ,  however I managed to go in and out of t2 in second and made my way up to first in the first bit of the run.I was soon however overtaken and settled behind the leader ,2 out of the 4 laps,however my legs were feeling good therefore pushed on into first place and managed to get a gap of around 50 meters which stayed the same into the finish.

I was delighted  to win the race and even more happy to qualify for the Europeans which is taking place in France on the 15 th of September, therefore  I’m going to make sure to keep my form through the summer and fingers crossed also get a good result there.