Having been knocked around by illness the previous week, Sam Rose showed her talent and determination by gaining 4th place with a gutsy performance at the Cholmondeley Castle Elite Race…

Sam’s first Elite race of the season! She told us that the conditions were good for racing and the setting in and around the grounds of Cholmondeley Castle, was beautiful. “I didn’t have the best build up to the race, having had flu the week before, and been seeing a physio for back pain for the previous two weeks, but I went into the race with a positive attitude.”

The men and women set off together, so it was a busy start. Sam struggled in the swim, her strongest of the three disciplines, telling us, “My chest felt tight and my arms very heavy. It was a two-lap course, with an exit after 750m and a couple of hundred metres run before jumping back in to start the second lap. I exited the water 3rd woman and ran through the long transition trying to wake my legs up.” Setting off on the bike leg, Sam felt pretty puffed out but managed to hold a decent pace for the duration of the bike. 

On to the next transition and Sam commented: “After an interesting dismount (involving me catching my foot on the bike and falling to the ground swinging my bike over the top of me – thank God the bike suffered no injuries!), I started the run.” Sam knew the run was a combination of undulating and hilly off-road, so made the decision to settle into a pace that was comfortable so that she didn’t ‘knock’ herself out of training in the coming weeks. Holding 3rd position throughout the bike, it wasn’t until 7.5km into the run that Emma Deary, a very strong runner, overtook Sam. “I knew that even if I smashed myself at this point to try and hold onto 3rd I couldn’t keep up with Emma, so I offered some words of encouragement and carried on, striding out the last 2.5km to finish 4th woman overall. All in all, despite feeling pretty rough throughout, I’m happy with the race result.”

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