Llanelli Gateway Event

Last weekend I travelled all the way down to the bottom of Wales to Llanelli to compete in the Junior Gateway event, which was also my first race of the season due to injuries at the beginning of the year. I was looking forward to racing so much and I knew I had a good race in me!
I registered the day before, had a pre race pizza and got an early night.
Race day came and I was feeling good. Transition set up and briefing done all that was left was to race!

My swim is my strongest of the 3 but the past year or so I've struggled to find my rhythm and overall swim power, however the past few months my swim has started to come back. The race set off pretty fast and Liz Hood got a quick lead which I wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately the girl at the side of my thought it would be better to just swim along side me rather than bridging the gap which then resulted in Lizzie getting a mini break away and cutting my off from her line in to the first buoy which I wasn't pleased with, but that's racing. I then kept the gap the same between me and Liz throughout the swim. It didn't really feel fast at all and thinking about it I should have bridged the gap, but getting out the water 2nd feeling pretty fresh I can't complain with. I had a very, very quick T1 and off to mount my bike.. when my elastic band snapped which meant my shoe was jammed on the floor so that kind of failed. So a very stationary mount I was then caught by the chasers pretty much out of T1 which was disappointing.
I've recently felt quite weak on the bike so my aim was to just stick in the front pack and to get on to the run in the first pack. I did minimal work however I tried to do what I could. I apologise to all the girls as I could tell they were all really annoyed with my lack of contribution! I made it around in the front pack and on to the run I felt great until the dead turn at the far end and then my legs ran out of steam. I finished 8th overall which I am really happy with - my first race of the season so it means things can only get better! I also hate excuses but suffering from a bad cold a leading in to the race wasn't ideal but you just have to get on with it.
Pretty gutted I've just missed out on a place to race in Vienna next week - with it being top 6 to go, however I'm happy with the way my season has started and the only way is up from here!

Well done to all the girls who raced.

A big thanks to the support off BlueSeventy, BNY Mellon, Team Sportsaid, Summit Physio and Chia Charge going in to this season. I'm sure it will be a good one!


Leah x