When I first started working at Hazlegrove Prep School, I couldn’t quite believe how many different events the school took part in. Particularly the ones within the ‘racing’ category. It seems that there is an official event for every kind of race you could think of. Biathlon, pentathlon, modern tetrathlon, laser run, biathle, modern triathlon and more! Within my first few weeks of being at the school, the sports department took around 50 pupils to a Biathlon event at Leweston Prep School where they would be competing for a score which would rank them nationally. I decided to take the opportunity to compete within the teacher’s category where I was unsurprisingly the only competitor. I had to swim 50m and then separately run 800m. As this was the same distances the u12 boys would be competing at, I had to race alongside them. I managed a 2:15 for the 800m and a 29.4 for the 50m. A few weeks later I found out that this had me ranked as 1st in the country out of 2! Fast-forward to last weekend and it was time for the ‘official championships’. On Friday 15th March, a colleague and I drove a minibus load of children to our premier inn in Croydon, we all went out to Pizza Hut and then turned in for the night. The official event was hosted at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre which was opened in 1964, filled with a state of the art swimming pool, running track and gym facilities. Very sadly, the centre has become rather run down and is not quite the facility it once was. All of the girls raced on the Saturday and we had some brilliant results across the board. It made for a fun day out with non-stop races from 8:00-16:30. We then headed back to the Premier Inn, I had another pizza (perfect race prep) and then managed to angle the TV so I could watch the Manchester United, Wolves game in the bath! Sunday quickly came around and it was time to shine! On Friday I had found my 5 year old track spikes covered in mud in an old sports bag so I had given them a quick clean and now they were ready to fly. My run heat was following straight after the u10 boys of which we had 4 competing so my warmup was leading them through their warm up and then running to the toilet and back. Before long it was time to race and I was very excited. Of course I am going to start with excuses by saying it was windy. Not as windy as it had been the previous day but still enough to cause some doubt. However I knew that this was my chance to go for it! My only other competitor was Mr Anderson based in Gainsborough and although he looked very fit, I doubted he would be able to lead me to a sub 2 minute 800m. The run part of the race started and I floored it, knowing I had to just keep pushing through for this short period of time. The first lap flew by in 58 seconds and then it started to hurt. This is where a pacer would’ve come in handy! I continued to push and crossed the line in 2:02. How frustrating. Mr Anderson shortly followed in 2:24. My legs and lungs burnt in a very peculiar way, I hadn’t hurt like that for a long time! I cannot say that I am disappointed with that time. And I know that it is easy to speculate about what could’ve happened in different circumstances but it was all over! Now time for the swim. Again luckily the u10 boys had the same warmup time as me for the swim so I took them for a warm up and then we did some dive practise before the big race. I can’t say I feel many nerves ahead of a big run but things are a little different before swimming. There’s a little too much that can go wrong for my liking! Anyway I didn’t have long to think about what could happen. The race started and it was go time! My dive was pretty strong and I got right to it. I hadn’t swam in a 50m pool for a while so it made things a little tough but I touched the wall in a time of 30.31. Not brilliant but enough. Mr Anderson very shortly followed in 31.43. These two results officially made me the fastest teacher in Britain! How exciting. The day then got even better! Hazlegrove Prep School won some more silverware! Our u9 male athlete finished 3rd. The u10 boys finish as the 3rd team. The u13 boys finished at the 1st team. What a successful weekend. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I do have to give a big thank you to Simon at Elevate Physio, Yeovil. Simon was very highly recommended by my 'home physio' Sarah Fellows at Dyer St Clinic and I have been seeing him monthly since October. As a runner himself, he fully understands the athletes needs and works very hard to ensure the treatment sessions go as best they can. I also need to thank the sports department at Hazlegrove Prep School for all of the support they have given me since I joined the school and for giving me the opportunity to compete alongside the students. And as always, a huge thanks goes out to- Harry Palmer for coaching and mentoring me in all aspects of my triathlon life. Jason Tait for overlooking my swimming and building me up ready for the start of the season. Sarah Fellows at Dyer St Chiropractic for looking after me and healing my injured body. LPSEVENTS for sponsoring me financially and enabling me to race. Zoot Athlos Racing Team for being great support throughout the season. Finally, to Mum and Dad for helping with everything from behind the scenes!
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Luke CampbellHere will be a monthly review as well as occasional race updates Archives
April 2019
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