Europe Trip 2022

It’s been a while since I last posted on here so I’ll give a bit of an update. Things had been pretty quiet during Covid with competing in my last international race for two years at the start of 2020 in Rayong, Thailand. My next race wasn’t until 2021 where I raced the Standard Oceania Triathlon Championships and Cup and the Sprint Oceania Triathlon Cup, both in Port Douglas, Australia. Both were pretty average races but didn’t race as well as I wanted. From then I put my head down, joined a new run squad, worked really hard on my running as it’s been a weakness in the past. It took me about 6 months before I noticed any improvements but I still have a long way to go. I started my local season in Perth, Australia where I won seven races in a row which has set me up really well to win Open Female Triathlete of the Year in WA. 

I then set off to Europe for a six week racing block with the main aim of the trip to gain an automatic qualification for The World Games for Duathlon in July of 2022. My first stop on the trip was in Bahrain where I competed in the qualifying race for the Duathlon World Games. Safe to say, I came 2nd and got myself the spot. I’d never attempted a standard Duathlon (10/40/5) before and it really was a challenging distance with my weak run leg but we got it done. 










It was 2 weeks until my next race so Sam and I stayed in Calpe, Spain where we did a good little training block up some pretty steep climbs before we set off for our next race which was Quartiera Standard European Cup in Portugal. It was definitely a world class field with the best of the best for a European Cup. Swim went well, was just off the back of the front pack. Got myself into the chase pack on the hilly and technical bike where I set myself up to have a good race but unfortunately I didn’t have the legs for the 10km run. I still had a really good race and came away with 31st in the field which wasn’t too bad. 

The following weekend was Melilla Sprint European Cup in Spain. Unfortunately this wasn’t the best race for me. Had quite the muck around with getting there but we got there in the end. Due to the swimming conditions the race was changed to a Duathlon and again this being another strong field of women I knew I didn’t have the run legs to keep up, so this race was a bit of a flop. I was really looking forward to the sprint triathlon as I had the confidence from Quartiera’s swim leg and I knew I was going to set myself up well for the race. I came away with 36th which was disappointing but it’s all experience. After Melilla, Sam and I went back to Altea, Spain to do another little training block before our last triathlon of the season in 2 weeks time. Training was really good and enjoyable, finally had some good and sunny weather compared to the first time we stayed in Calpe where it was raining and cold the whole time. 


 
From Altea we went to Turkey to race the Yenisehir Sprint European Cup. This was a good race from me. I came third out of the water and was in the front pack on the bike. Was feeling good and strong. Again, my weakness in running showed and I ended up 17th overall which wasn’t terrible but I would have loved to have a better run. Now it’s time to head back home to Perth where I will train hard in preparation for The World Games in July. 




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