Reports are now all over the internet and the ITU story says it all: "The 30-34 women's race was all about Great Britain, with Team GB athletes taking six of the top ten spots. Leading the way was Jill Parker, who won the group in 1:58:02."
For those in the club who Jill has swept past during this year's TTs, console yourself with the fact that she is after all, the best in the world! Hopefully, Jill's full report on the event to follow in due course but please join in congratulating her on an amazing achievement.
The photo shows Jill in action at 2010's first RCC Horne TT. From Horne to Budapest - what a journey!
AND HERE IS THE STORY IN JILL'S OWN WORDS...
Short Report:
I won I won I won!!!!! I'm the World Amateur Triathlon Champion - and it feels fantastic ;-)
Long Report:
Pre Race: On Sunday I took part in the World Amateur Triathlon Championships in Budapest. I didn't make the cut for the elite race as they took the top 6 ladies and I'm still hanging around top 10 in GB so I entered the non-elite race. 2 weeks before the race I had spent a week training in Loughborough with my coach, Michelle Dillon and the Team Dillon members that train there with her; including world elite athletes Stuart Hayes and Jodie Stimpson. The training was tough but just gave me the extra edge and sharpened me up for the race and I felt totally ready. More ready than I had been for any other race in my life. I was feeling fit, fast and very focused.
I flew out to Budapest on the Thursday with my friend, physio and fellow triathlete, Helen Smith and we were staying in the very grand Gellert Hotel which sits above the amazing opulent thermal baths. This proved to be a stroke of genius. It did not stop raining in Budapest from when we touched down until the morning of our race so when we were not out attending race briefings, reccying the course and getting soaking wet in the process, we were resting either in the hotel or in the healing waters of the thermal baths. At some points we were that chilled I'm sure we even forgot about the huge race that lay before us.
On the Saturday evening before the race we racked our bikes in transition, headed out for pasta and then headed back to the hotel for a very early night.
Race Morning: I managed to sleep quite well considering and didn't feel very nervous, maybe that's because I was still half asleep as the alarm had gone off at 4:30 so I could eat my breakfast 3 hours before I was due to race. I had my peanut putter and jam sandwich (my new favourite pre-race meal) and then grabbed another 45 minutes kip. At 5:30 it was time to get up. I dressed in my GB kit feeling really proud to be racing for my country and eager to go and race - I just love racing - it's what it is all about for me.
We headed down to the race start and I went through the usual pre-race warm up and rituals but made sure I was right at the front when it came to being herded into the race holding area. We were held there for 5 minutes and I just looked out to the lake focusing on my race. I had dreamt about this race all year. This was my 'A' race, the race that for the past few months had been the focus of every aspect of my life. I had pictured it in my mind, visualised how the race would go, how I would swim, focusing on my technique, how I would power really hard on the bike and how I would run as fast as i could to the finish line. I thought about how I would deal with any problems, the fatigue, the pain urging me to stop that I knew would come on the run and how I would run fast through this. I looked out across the lake fired up to race thinking about all my great training that was in the bank and thinking about all the sacrifices in my life that I had made to prepare me for this race and also the jealous back-stabbers who did not want me to race at all.
Swim: We were called into the lake and told to hold on to the pontoon to wait for the starters orders. I jumped in to the lake first to give myself as much time as possible to acclimatise to the cold water (the lake was around 16 oC) and picked my perfect spot on the pontoon which I thought gave me the most direct swimming line to the first buoy and I held on to the pontoon to stake my place. However, other athletes also wanted my spot and rather than go next to me, they jumped on top of me, after a few seconds there was nowhere left on the pontoon to hold onto. So I held onto the shoulder of the last girl that had jumped on top of me completely unphased about what had just happened. I suppose this was because I was so focused on the 1,500m swim before me and also I knew that there was very little time to go. Before I had time to get annoyed all we heard was........."Take your marks"......."GO!!!!" We were off.
Due to the way in which we were all very crowded together I knew I had to put in a fast first 100m to reach some clear water before finding my rhythm. This worked really well and I could see that, after a couple of minutes, there were 4 of us who had swam clear of the 64 people in our race. As we approached the half way point to the first buoy the 4th swimmer had fallen back and I could see one girl leading in front and I had positioned myself on the feet of the 2nd place swimmer. After a short while though I sensed that she was slowing. I thought I'll try and overtake her to see if I can get passed - there is no point sitting on the feet of a slower swimmer. I swam alongside her and managed to pass her quite easily. She had obviously gone off way to fast and had blown up even before the first buoy. I kept focusing on the leading lady and getting to each buoy in the shortest distance possible. I couldn't believe it, I was actually in 2nd place in my weakest discipline. I have worked so hard on my swimming, and although it still does not cut the mustard in elite triathlon racing, I was showing how far I had come from a mediocre mid-level swimmer to now being one of the top amateur swimmers on the triathlon circuit. I even overtook some of the male swimmers from the wave before who were clearly suffering in the cold waters.
T1: I exited the water in 20:33 and ran along the sandy embankment and up the grass hill into transition peeling off my wetsuit as I ran determined to catch the leading lady. I had a pretty quick transition dumping my wetsuit and putting on my helmet and grabbing my bike. I ran with my bike down to the mount line where I saw the leading lady struggling to mount her bike. I ran passed her then jumped and did a flying mount on to my bike and peddled off leaving her behind.
Bike: I got up my momentum and put my feet into my bike shoes and powered on. I focused on trying to maintain an average speed as close to 40km/h as possible, being efficient round the bends, finding a good racing line and avoiding any potholes. I concentrated on catching and overtaking everyone I could see in front of me on the course from earlier waves. I knew that I was in pole position and as long as no girl overtook me, the win was in the bag. The bike course was a 3 lap flat circuit. I tried to power on as much as I could but also trying not to overcook it to leave some energy in the tank for the 10km run. I finished the 36 km bike course in 54:29 still in pole position having cycled the course faster than anyone else in my race.
T2: I had a frustrating T2, the bike entry shoot was very narrow and I got slowed by an Irish man who I eventually managed to overtake. I quickly racked my bike took off my helmet, slipped on my trainers and set off for the 10km run.
Run: The first 5km saw us running along the banks of the Danube up to Chain Bridge. I felt great for the first 5km. I held a fast cadence, my breathing was under control, no pain and no stitches. I was wondering weather I could keep this pace up but equally, I did not know who was hunting me down behind me and knew that I could not let up or leaving anything out on the course, I had to give it everything I had. After 5km we ran over Chain Bridge into the centre of town where thousands of spectators had gathered to cheer us all on. The support was just phenomenal. I passed my parents, then my coach as I approached the other side of Chain Bridge I was still feeling pretty strong. We then had to do a lap around town to the steps of the huge Basilica then back round town to go past the finish line and back over Chain Bridge for another final lap to make up the full 10km distance. I just focused on overtaking anyone who was on the course in front of me from the earlier waves and running as fast as I could.
As I was crossing Chain Bridge for the 2nd time I saw two fellow GB athletes from my race on the other side of Chain Bridge who were crossing the bridge for the first time. I knew they were fast athletes but they must have been over 1km behind - my spirits were really buoyed by this. At the other side of Chain Bridge there was an out and back section. It took me about 1:30 to run out and on the back section I was looking at the other athletes on the other side of the road but could not see anyone on my heels. I was elated, I worked out that I had at least a 3 minute lead and ran over Chain Bridge for the final time with an even bigger bounce in my stride all pain seeming to fall by the wayside.
I passed Mish, then my mum and dad and Matt who were clearly the loudest supporters by far and kept running fast desperate to get to the finish line and make the impending win a reality. I did the final lap around town passing the grand Basilica for the last time and headed round the streets and round the bend to the finish shoot. I stepped onto the blue carpet that signalled around 100m to the finish line. There was a massive group of GB supporters handing out masses of British flags. I took a flag from my friend Andy and powered down the finish shoot elated knowing the win was in the bag and crossed the finish line as World Champion in a time of 1:58:02 over 3:30 minutes faster than the girl in 2nd place with the biggest smile on my face ;-D
Goal achieved, and I'm still as high as a kite.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far. I really appreciate it. xxx
Event / Article Type
World Triathlon Championships, Budapest
Jill Parker - Age Group World Champion in Budapest 2010