Paratriathlon Nationals-Silver medal!!

Well, what a day! The lovely warm weather deserted us, we were blown sideways and rained on, but all of us came out smiling at the end.

I was surprisingly calm all day, even though I had a very new transition 'team' consisting of one (although I am allowed two helpers officially) and had to talk Lucy through what I needed before the race. Fortunately Penny showed me exactly how the water handling was going to happen, as nobody had demonstrated this before.

I was so laid back that I only just got my gloves onto the race chair, put my swim cap on and slid into the water when the hooter went off.

Bit of a mad washing machine effect at the start-there seemed so many people- but by the first buoy things had spread out. Managed backstroke turns round both buoys and drafted Tom Perkins for a while but his strong kick made it hard to breathe. I really noticed the difference as I drew away though, so need to stick by the side of someone next time.

Felt horribly dizzy when I was lifted out of the water and thought I might faint, but ok once recumbent on the bike. I wasn't the only one to suffer this, and think it was the cold weather and water reducing blood pressure.

Bike was a steady 90 cadence and a good average speed to produce a PB for the 20km! The race chair was my nightmare ride, even though I beat Karen out of T2. I didn't know my way out, two marshalls carried on talking and ignored me and then the path was so narrow, I crashed into the drinks tent :-(

A 90 degree turn onto the service road uphill was rubbish, then on a small uphill section I slid backwards, frantically braking. I couldn't get enough weight onto the front of the chair and doing wheelies uphill with a head wind wasn't a good idea. Unfortunately, I had to do the circuit twice. I coped better the second time, but ended up opening my gloves and pushing one side at a time, not letting go of the wheels...Luckily it was not within sight of anyone, as I felt pathetic.

I could hear Tracy, Denise and Scott shouting me on, and the small crowd was great, clapping and cheering every time we went past. Brilliant! Can't wait for the next one-I'm hooked!