Former Harrow College student Faye McClelland has successfully qualified for the Paralympics this summer and will now go on to represent Great Britain in Rio. Below, Faye describes the final stages of her qualification races before the news of her qualification was annouced. This intriguing insight give us an idea of the huge effort and dedication which goes into major triathletic tournament qualifcation. From all at Harrow College, a big congratulations to Faye and good luck to all of Team GB in Rio!
"Due to an on-going calf injury and a bit of illness in March & April, it was a later start than I intended in the 2016 race season and therefore I didn’t compete until the all-important European Championships on 27thMay in Lisbon. This was a critical race towards fulfilling the second and only remaining Great Britain slot in my category for the Paralympic games. Despite the lack of racing, I was hitting my performance targets in training and beginning to feel quietly confident. The key to maximising my selection potential over my teammate and GB rival Clare Cunningham was to position well in Lisbon to gain maximum points…the pressure was on!
After a tentative and nerve-racking build up the race finally got under way. I had a solid 750 metre swim exiting the water in fourth place. It was then onto the 20km bike where I managed to put some good power down in the first two laps overtaking Gwladys Lemoussu from France and Clare Cunningham; I was now in second place. Lauren Steadman, my other GB competing team mate, was comfortably holding first place. During the penultimate lap to my surprise, Gwladys caught up and overtook me. Her biking had clearly improved since we last raced at the end of 2015 and for the remainder of the cycle it became a cat & mouse chase between the two of us. We exited head to head on the run but I soon began to pull away in the first kilometre. Finally I was building up a good lead, only to be shocked on receiving notice of a 10 second penalty for a wrongly executed bike dismount. I was completely mortified and in disbelief but had no option but to serve the penalty to avoid disqualification. More anxious now than ever to extend my lead on Gwladys, I pushed as hard as my legs could go into the last Kilometre, entering the penalty zone with the finish line a torturous 200 metres away and with Gwladys fast approaching. It felt as though time stood still in what seemed the longest ten seconds of my life. Just as I was released she came flying past and we had a sprint finish to the line. I finished ahead by just two seconds which is the slightest of margins in the world of Triathlon racing. Most importantly I had provisionally secured the second GB slot in the women’s PT4 category.
Besancon in France was the last remaining race in the World Series, marking the end of this year’s qualification period before the Rio selection committee make their final decisions. Three weeks after Lisbon, the team made its trip to France to be greeted by torrential rainfall. The river in which we would be swimming was completely flooded and deemed too unsafe by the race officials. The race therefore was switched to a Duathlon (run, bike, run). My main focus now switched to executing a strong run from the start. As we set off pounding the wet streets on the first 2.5km I felt strong although breathing down my neck was the all too familiar Miss Lemoussu. She was back and ready to attack!
I took the lead into transition and was first out onto the bike. It felt gruelling as my legs were already fatigued from the hard run and the rainfall wasn’t helping. Gwladys got the better of me and powered past half way through but I managed to keep her in sight, closing the gap on the last lap into transition. I pulled away in the first half and the gap just continued to grow as I held my lead for the rest of the race with no other girls in sight. I won the race by a comfortable two minute lead.
It’s great to feel my racing fitness returning again. I’ve settled into a good training routine which will see me through to the World Championships on 24th July in Rotterdam. I’ve since raced in a couple of local Triathlons to keep sharp and I’m looking forward to testing myself in Rotterdam against some of the best girls on the World circuit. We then have the British Paratriathlon Championship on 14th August which will be the last race of the season before I hopefully head out to Rio at the end of August.
In the meantime I’m patiently waiting, for what seems like an eternity, to be officially selected for the Rio 2016 Paralympic games by the British Paralympic Association (BPA). The announcement will finally be made on Friday 15th July…I’m keeping fingers & toes crossed!"
Harrow College are proud to sponsor Faye on her road to Rio and we wish her the very best of luck!