Our “One Year to Go Pro” year has certainly been an eventful year! We may not have achieved our professional status (yet) but our triathlon dreams continue to move forward. Only now as husband and wife! Mr and Mrs Tri2!!!
Last year, Rich and I gave up our financially secure jobs and lives in Singapore to move back to the UK and chase our triathlon dreams. We wondered whether training full time for a year would enable us to reach a standard high enough to race and qualify as professional triathletes. Meanwhile, we wanted to launch Tri2 coaching and share our passion and knowledge with other triathletes.
It has not been an easy year for anyone and this challenge has certainly been challenging. The pandemic has continued to throw curveballs at us left, right and centre but we don’t regret any of our decisions. The year has been full of deferred races, cancelled races and travel restrictions. It has felt like a game of luck and many athletes have been able to race whilst others have had events whisked away at the last moment (again and again in our case). We certainly miss the days when you booked a race, completed your training block, then raced, reset and started again. This year it has been incredibly difficult (as it has for everyone) as our fitness has peaked in time for a race, only for it to be cancelled or deferred. We have both had moments throughout the year where we love to have been able to race and prove our progress in training. We have had to find ways to keep motivation high despite disappointment after disappointment with our race choices.
We have both had highlights, especially during training. It has been exciting to watch the numbers improve each week and realising that hard work and the right training produces results. Rich had achieved PB after PB after PB including qualifying for the World Champs through a virtual race (when we had had enough of waiting for an actual event to go ahead). Sophie’s biking has gone from strength to strength and she has achieved fastest female bike split at her last 2 races – at standard and middle distance events.
Due to deferrals and cancellations, we are yet to even race a pro field or have the opportunity to qualify as professional triathletes. Meanwhile, we have had to rely heavily on our wonderful family, friends and sponsors to enable us to train. We can only hope they will continue to support us with our triathlon dreams. Although we are not at a professional level yet, we have enjoyed the process of training and pushing ourselves to be the best triathletes we can be. That will not change. We may not be posting about it using the hashtag #oneyeartogopro but the challenge continues and we will continue to share. This year has only confirmed our joint passion for triathlon.
We have loved our new careers as triathlon coaches and it has been amazing to develop our Tri2 crew. We now have a growing team of athletes that are all inspiring in their own ways. We are really excited for everything the future holds. We are going to continue to swim, bike and run with all our hearts, keep racing, keep dreaming….
Long term, we have our sights set on moving to Mallorca. Who fancies a triathlon camp on a beautiful island that can only be described as year round swim, bike, run HEAVEN?! (We just have a few Brexit related hurdles to jump over to get residency first so more patience needed).
We would like to thank everyone that has followed us and supported us on our #oneyeartogopro journey. We are now excited for the next chapter and all the adventures it has in store.
Big thanks to everyone at
(Discount code Tri2-5)
(Discount Code Tri220)
