Club Captains

I didn’t particularly enjoyed PE at school – in fact I have been known to run in the opposite direction from the rugby ball – however I did always enjoy the annual ’12 minute run’, cross-country and 1500m events, and also cycling around the South Northamptonshire villages in my spare time.

After several years hiatus, my first event as an adult was the Bath Half in 2010 – finishing a shade over the target 2hr mark – and my first dabble into multi-sport being the Blenheim Palace triathlon in 2014. This was a fantastic introduction to triathlon (and open-water swimming in general – which was by far the biggest excursion from my comfort zone). Blenheim had me hooked on triathlon – a few months later I’d skipped the Olympic distance and completed the middle distance event at Hever Castle. This was unexpectedly quite the step-up from Blenheim – I only had a mountain bike at the time, and while at Blenheim there were plenty of Boris bikes, Bromptons and tandems, I was in the vast minority at Hever.

I relocated to South Cambridgeshire in 2015 for a new job, and quickly joined the local running and triathlon clubs. Gaining knowledge and support from my club mates at MTC has been invaluable – and indeed introducing my partner, Helen, to the club. At the time I only swam breaststroke, gradually learning to swim freestyle through Alice’s SwimFit and Masters sessions. I have since completed many triathlons – highlights would be the Helvellyn triathlon, Outlaw Holkham half and Ironman Zurich in 2019.

I always like to have a sporting goal – over lockdown it was to run a sub-3hr marathon, next year I hope it will be to complete the Chillswim series by swimming the length of Lake Windermere and further ahead I hope to complete the World Marathon Majors (4/6 completed so far).

You will often find me at club events – and regularly coaching the Wednesday evening run sessions.

After 2 years in the big smoke, I got a job at a technology consultancy here in Melbourn. My husband and I started attending the Park Run at Wimpole and I got back in the pool again. I started relearning to swim in December 2019. I couldn’t do 2 consecutive lengths of the Melbourn MVC pool without gasping for breath, but I loved it. My road bike came back out of storage and my husband (Nick) reminded me that there was once a time when I had so many passions, I couldn’t focus enough on any one thing!! He gently nudged me to join the triathlon club.  

I found Meridian so welcoming! No one seemed to mind that I couldn’t keep up the Sunday group rides to begin with, or that I would give up 9.5 km into a 10 km run. But since joining the club, I am back to my happy overcommitted self! I enjoy all aspects of triathlon, I don’t have to choose a single sport to focus on for a start, but swimming is where my soul is most happy! I have had a fabulous time and have been so grateful for all the brilliant coaching, friendly encouragement, company while training, company while racing and some great friendships I have made! I think I have finally found a sport which gives me enough variety for my short attention span and a really lovely club in which to do it!