My Triathlon Journey

Pre-Race

Coming into probably the biggest cross country of the year, the English National Cross Country, my results had been improving as the season went on. I was going to be racing in a field of 500 other U15s. This was going to be my second nationals, this time at Parliament Hill in London.

I was running for Brighton and Hove AC, as a bottom year. I wanted to finish in the top 20. 2 years earlier I had finished 11^th as a bottom year U13, but now my competition was a lot faster and by far more experienced than then.

I was the second race of the day (the races were in a random order) so in theory I was probably better off with mud on the course. However, after walking it earlier there was a puddle in a ditch that nearly came up knee height – and that was before any races had started and before most people had walked the course. There was actually about 5000 athletes racing today!

To the Start

I got to the entrance to the start 10 minutes beforehand as it would soon get crowded. You had to go through a tent with zig zag funnelling. You can imagine with more than 450 boys around you it would feel pretty congested. I was lucky that I got to the front as I could get to where I wanted on the start line.

The Race

As the start gun went off, I slipped a little on the line but we had about 700m up a gradual hill before the first corner and 4km of racing to make up places. I was in about 50 or 60^th just prior to the corner, but I saw everyone going right and I jumped out from the field alone and pushed super hard as most runners eased up from the hill, My tactic worked as perfect as it could have gone, pretty much sending me straight to 30^th. The course was now actually so much more muddy than I anticipated and there were huge foot holes with mud double ankle height.

I pushed the first lap gaining a couple places on hills, then I launched another surge on the grass that joined the two laps. By this point I was in about 17^th or 18^th. The feeling I would say kind of overwhelmed me and I ran harder with the urge to better my position. The final stretch was 500m or so, downhill then a 90 degree left hander along a pan-flat straight into the finish. I was in 16^th at the top of the hill. As I ran down the final stretch I saw two in front and I pushed to close the gap. With about five seconds until the finish, I passed one a few metres from the line, to take 15^th. I can’t remember ever overtaking someone in a sprint! In the end I got top 15, even better than top 20. I was only around 20 seconds from 5^th place and was happier than ever with my performance.

I smiled as I crossed the finish line – I can assure you there aren’t many races where I’m so happy I can smile through the pain, passed the finish.