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Claire Howard – #thetrilifereporter
I am a PE teacher and married mum of two. I have been fortunate enough to be involved in sport all of my life but nothing has compared to passion that I feel for triathlon. I am new to the sport and completed my first event last June in Crawley.
I was due to compete at Tonbridge in May but after badly rolling my ankle on a full lucozade bottle in the London marathon last April my inaugural Triathlon event was delayed. This only made me more determined to get a race under my belt and I spent most of my time in the pool with a pull buoy, ploughing up and down. This was a real turning point for me regarding swimming as I was swimming 400m in 10 minutes last March and have now gone under 8 minutes.
After getting the all clear from an MRI scan on my ankle, Crawley was the next available triathlon that I could do. I was thrilled to achieve 2nd placed female, only losing out on 1st place by 17 seconds.
I have competed in a further two sprint triathlons and have loved them. Even when my bike fell to pieces at Hever last year I managed to borrow a bike and get myself around the course, that medal currently means the most to me.
I belong to a great club, Tunbridge Wells Triathlon Club and joined them last May. A really supportive bunch of individuals. The club were given the opportunity to have priority entrance into the IM Staffs 70.3 in June, an opportunity that I couldn’t pass over.
I am training for the Paris marathon which takes place in April and have also entered Sevenoaks sprint, St Neots standard and Marshman standard events prior to Staffs. All good preparation I’m hoping. I’m looking forward to a really exciting year in triathlon and am thrilled to have been selected as one of #thetrilifereporters
