GBR Age Grouper Olivia Competes at World Duathlon Championships | Supported by CSSC
At 8:58 on Saturday 21 June 2025 I stood on the start line with nervous excitement as I waited for the 10 second heartbeat countdown to sound and my first experience of representing my county as an age group athlete to begin.
I had arrived in Pontevedra, Spain the day before having spent a week with my middle daughter touring Northern Spain in our campervan. We had already made some amazing memories visiting; Playa de las Cathedrales, Santiago de Compostela and Baiona. My preparation for the sprint duathlon (5k run – 20k bike – 2.5k run) had been good but it had taken me a long time to realise that I was now a vet (V55) and after a decade of not really running I was not just going to recover my old pace and sub 20-minute 5k prowess.
Training harder and faster was not the route to success as it invariably ended up in an injury. Consistency with sensible and controlled training was key. I arrived on the start line knowing I was not going to be as fast as I had hoped for but pleased that I was healthy and fit enough to race and proud to be wearing my GBR kit with my name on it!
My goal was to not go off too fast and I managed to quickly find a comfortable rhythm for the first 5k run. The route was 2 laps around the pretty streets of Pontevedra with an incline to add a little spice and interest. We were the last wave of the sprint duathlons to start and were on the course with the speedy men finishing their race.
There was support on the streets and whilst I don’t normally like laps, I really enjoyed the run and clocked a respectable 22:09 before dashing through transition and getting out on the bike leg. For sprint duathlons the bike is draft legal so for the first 3 miles I worked with a French competitor but as the course went uphill, she fell off the pace and I found myself passing riders from earlier waves and with no drafting advantage rode on to the turn around point and the descent.
Catching and surfing groups I was enjoying myself perhaps a bit too much rather than focusing on my own power but before I knew it, I was back in transition and headed off for the final run. As always at this point it is survival but after a steady start and having conquered the hill I found myself in the company of a German V60 athlete and we pushed each other to the finish.
I was 5th in my age group and 2nd GBR athlete and on reflection very pleased with my race execution, running faster than I had hoped and having so much fun on the bike course. There are some areas I can improve on; transition and focus on bike leg (my strongest discipline) but I was content with my race and had the rest of my holiday to enjoy with a slow drive back to the UK through France.
It was my first experience of representing my country as an age group athlete, which was great fun and I would recommend to others to give it a go. And thanks to CSSC for supporting me under the ‘Elite Sponsorship Fund’.
If you too like Olivia are lucky enough to be representing your country in your chosen sport, please do apply to the Elite Sponsorship Fund, we can help support, for instance with entry fees, equipment and clothing.