It is with great pride that ATC would like to congratulate Susan Brown on her fantastic achievement of winning gold twice, in the sprint and the standard distance triathlon, becoming the Age Group Champion of Great Britain for both. These results are all the more special having lost her father in January, she had no expectations regarding racing this year. Her gold medals were won at British Age Group Sprint Championships held in Strathcldye Country Park in May and at the British AG Standard Championships held at Leeds in June. Her first triathlon was at Redcar in 2013 where she remembers she was worried about the sea swim, what to wear and loads of other things but as soon as she got in the water all that was forgotten and she loved the whole triathlon experience.
The following year she did Redcar again and afterwards made the decision to try and qualify for the Team GB Age Group squad and compete in the 2015 World Sprint AG championships in Chicago. She started working with a coach and the next 12 months triathlon training took over her life, culminating in qualification for the Age Groups Championships, travelling to Chicago and finishing 8th. Like most of the triathletes of ATC, Susan does have to fit training around work, and being a long-haul cabin crew member, this can be tricky, as some places have much better gym facilities than others. She once had to revert to training rides around the F1 circuit in Montreal on a hybrid bike much to the amusement of the other cyclists on their road bikes. She generally trains solo, but during the winter months, she tries to ride with others to get the winter cycling miles in, as it’s much more enjoyable and takes her mind off the weather. Swimming is her favourite part as it’s always nice to be one of the first back into transition before heading out on the bike. She admits the run is her weakest discipline, spending most of the time trying not to get caught by the faster runners.
This is something she will be working on this winter. “I have mixed emotions about what I have achieved in 2017, amazement that I have become Sprint and Standard AG champion and sadness that my Dad is not here to see it. I really need to thank my partner David Packham, for being my voice of reason, bike mechanic and just generally putting up with me during the difficult times. I’m looking forward to and hoping to qualify for the World AG championships in Rotterdam and compete in the European AG Sprint championships in Glasgow 2018.”
