Eastbourne Olympic Distance – Club Champs & European Qualifier!

Earlier in June was the first of two club championships! Our two Standard Distance Club Champions are Charlie Rogers and Lucy Iball – congratulations! This course was ‘no joke’ with some insane hills, a hectic swim and some tough 180 degree turns on the run course. Oh and did we mention it was HOT! We also had plenty of first timers and an epic support crew in true Ful-on Tri style. 

Lucy Iball can regularly be found zooming around Richmond Park on her new TT bike or showing us how it’s done in Lane 5 swim so we asked newly crowned club champ for her thoughts on the race, take it away Lucy:

How did you get into triathlon/background in the sport?

I was a competitive swimmer until age 13, turning away from sport in my teen years, and a bit too much going out in my first year at uni – I found myself wanting to take up a sport again! I initially considered triathlon, but only had a commuter bike and was scared of going down hills….. So I took up rowing and put triathlon to the back of my mind. 

Fast forward to almost 10 years later I got a back injury which prevented me from rowing for a while, I bought a road bike and turned to it for some cross-training whilst injured. This was timed conveniently with the pandemic, and after starting my cycling journey breaking on flats being too scared to go fast, I fell in love with cycling! Now I could cycle, triathlon was on my mind as a future sport for my last 2 years of rowing. 12 months ago I decided to stop rowing after 10 years, and so joined Ful-on Tri and haven’t looked back since!

What made you enter Eastbourne Olympic distance this year? 

I entered Eastbourne solely as it was the Club Champs, having done Outlaw where we had a large FOT contingent racing. I loved the atmosphere of racing with everyone from the club – and so immediately entered the Club Champs, excited to race with even more club friends! It was only my second olympic distance triathlon!

How did the race go? A short summary/funny highlights….

It went really well! The swim was a lot of fun, although I did get stung by a jellyfish! The bike was super hard but the views were incredible! The run was the hardest part for me – as it always is – but made better by the fact I got to run with both Sasha and Becky for parts of it. And of course all the other FOT members you constantly ran past – so much support and such a great atmosphere! 

Our Club Champions – Charlie Rogers & Lucy Iball

What made this event extra special/hard…?

Definitely the hills! The 3 triathlons I’ve done so far have been reasonably flat, but this one didn’t have any flat at all – it was all either up or down. Given I’m the kind of person who prefers consistent efforts over up and down surges – the hills made the bike super hard!

[ed. Bike course had 800m of elevation over 36.6km]

Did you qualify for the Europeans? Will you be going? Is this your first AG Team GB qualification?

Yes I did! It’s my first AG Team GB Qualification, however I’m going to leave deciding whether I go until they announce the location!

What’s next? Doesn’t have to be a race! Can be a focus….

Club Sprint Champs! I’m looking forward to it, I’ve never done a Sprint so looking forward to giving one a go!

We heard there was a bit of a battle?

Sasha and I had a good battle for the win. I came out of the water first, she flew past me in the final stages of the bike, then when we came out of transition she had a small lead. I couldn’t catch her on the first half of the run, but I managed to get ahead in the second half and take the eventual win. 

Intrigued about racing for Team GB in your age group? Learn how to qualify here.