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Clare Cunningham for CLS Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Clare Cunningham, coached by Andrea Whitcombe. We are really delighted for her!
British para-triathlete Clare Cunningham has achieved some impressive results during her sports career. In the 90’s she was among the best swimmers in the world, and now she has taken on triathlon where she is training hard to become number one. This is why she is the newest member of the Club La Santa Hall of Fame.
A week of intense training has just ended for Clare Cunningham who is now returning to the UK to go back to her work as an accountant. However, this will only be for a couple of weeks because Clare has taken a six months leave from work to dedicate to training.
Last year she came in 2nd in both the European and World championships in para-triathlon and this year she wants those results to improve which is the reason she decided to become a fulltime triathlete.
Clare is excited to be starting this new lifestyle which will be very different to the life she is leading at the moment where training can only take place in the early hours of the morning and then again in the evening. “I really look forward to training at sensible hours of the day and also to getting up at more leisurely times in the morning” she says with a smile.During her time here at Club La Santa Clare has had a preview of how it is to be focusing fully on training and from just being here a week she already feels stronger. Her training here consisted of a lot of biking and swimming and Clare has loved the fact that she has been able to do all of her training outdoors. Especially the biking has been enjoyable: “It’s just fantastic biking here. The roads are great and I can’t believe how cautious the drivers are. I’m not used to that from back home, so that is fantastic”.
Unfortunately a leg injury has kept her from running, and this leg injury is also her main source of concern when it comes to being ready for her first big race of the year, which is the British Championship in May: ”I’m definitely stronger and faster than I was this time last year, so I’m very confident, that I will be able to pull in a good result this year. I just need the injury to heal and it will be good”.
After the British Championship Clare’s next big race is the European Championship in June and finally she has the World Championship Beijing in September. Finishing as number one in both the European and World Championship are her goals of 2011, and she lets us know that she is training hard to achieve those goals. As a more long-term goal she has her mind set on qualifying for the Paralympic Games in 2016 where triathlon has just been included as a discipline.
Clare’s disability is not always noticeable at first sight but it has been a part of her life always. She was born without her left forearm, but she says that her disability rarely crosses her mind anymore because she has learnt to do everything without it. It has certainly not prevented her from doing sports as she already from a young age became an elite swimmer.
She started to train with the British National Team at the age of 12 and in 1992 she went to the Paralympic Games in Barcelona where she became champion, only 15 years old. She also took home four silver medals at the Games in 1992. In 1994 she became the World Champion but only a few years after she retired from swimming.
After several years of not training at a professional level she took up triathlon which would become her new passion. She took home the first place at the 2009 Triathlon World Championships, and as mentioned she came in 2nd in both the European and World Championship in 2010, which left her wanting more.
Even though Clare will undoubtedly deliver more results during the coming years, her career in sports has already been really impressive.
We are proud to include her into the Hall of Fame that gathers Olympic and World Champions – Clare is one more World Champion here – for which she is very happy: “There are some pretty big names up on those walls, so I’m very excited to go up there with them!”
(Article taken from the Club La Santa website)
