2021 World Triathlon Long Distance Championships - Race Report by bronze medallist Camille King

For background: 

• I live with my husband Rob near Southampton UK where we are raising our 3 children. I addition to being an athlete, I have my own business (Dare 2 Dream Fitness), which offers Personal Training
• I’m part of Team GB in long distance triathlon
• At the previous ITU World Championships in long distance triathlon in May 2019 (they were held in Pontevedra in Spain), I obtained a silver medal in my age group
• I also took part in the famous IRONMAN World Championships in Kona Hawaii in October 2019 where I ranked 11^th in my age group
• Since then despite COVID, I still managed to take part in 6 multipsport (duathlons and triathlons) events in 2020 and 2021 prior to attending the World Triathlon Championships last weekend. I podiumed in all 6 events

You can see my details sporting results on my website, where you can also find more information about my background.

The Race: World Triathlon World Championship 2021:

I took part on Sunday 12^th September in the 2021 World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in Almere-Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Being part of Team GB, I was able to travel to The Netherlands despite the COVID restrictions.

The race is a long distance triathlon and it took part in Almere, a suburb of Amsterdam. So all competitors have to cover:

- 3.8km (2.4 miles) swim in the Weerwater

- 180km (112 miles) cycling

- 42.3km (26.2 miles) running (a marathon).

You can find more details about the race here.

If you are interested in getting into Triathlon, Sundried's kit is suitable for beginners as well as seasoned athletes. We have both men's and women's options available. 

My Race Report:

Unfortunately I manage to break my little toe 6 days before the race. Not an ideal preparation and I was doubting whether I should still even be on the start line. There was a high risk that I might not make it around the iron distance course.

Nonetheless I decided to give it a try.

The swim started at 8 am in the Weerwater lake in Almere. The morning was windy and it was causing the water to be pretty choppy. I tried to stay away from packs of swimmers to protect my fractured toe, as I knew from past experience that it’s easy to get accidentally battered by other competitors during the open water swim. The swim is usually my weakest of the 3 disciplines and I wasn’t too surprised when I came out of the water in 1h14.

I then hoped onto my bike to tackle the 180 km cycling course. The course is flat and fast and goes through the Dutch dykes and beautiful landscapes. I was feeling quite strong on the bike and really enjoying the course. I managed to get around the bike course in 5h12.

Now onto the run course for the marathon. I focused on ignoring the pain in my right foot resulting from running on a fractured bone, and got on with the task at hand, 6 laps of a 7 km loop around the Weerwater lake. I shuffled my way around the course completing a 3h36 marathon, for a total race time of 10h10min57sec.

Only 15 seconds behind American Monika Poveda and 77 seconds behind first place. Such a close podium!

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