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From Niamh Lewis
BBC Sport
When British triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay failed to create the Olympic swimming squad aged 17, she took a job in a zoo and gave the sport up.
Currently, the 26-year-old out of Essex has been the greatest hope of becoming the Ironman world champion of Britain.
To take that leap in the pool to Ironmans 140.6 miles of swimming, cycling and running might leave a few people scratching their heads.
However, as veteran triathletes know, the sport has a habit of putting people in – evidenced by the expansion of the Ironman brand all from a iconic moment in Hawaii, to 230 occasions through the 1970s.
On this afternoon – 18 February 1978 – just 15 people took on the jellyfish-infested sea from basic swimwear to swim 2.4 miles, accompanied by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile jog in Hawaiis sweltering temperatures. It was intended to decide which athletes had been the fittest: bikers alcoholics or runners.
Now at this weekends Ironman World Championships, over 2,000 competitors will take part.
One of them, Charles-Barclay, the rejected one-time and swimmer zoo staff.
After missing choice to the London 2012 games I needed to make a determination on whether I could continue doing another four years in the game to attempt to get into another Olympics, she told BBC Sport.
I gave it a really good go, I received my greatest ever times at the pool and good effects in open water, but that I lost the love of this sport. So I pretty much gave up it together.
working in the marketing department for Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire that the triathlon bug started to bite, it was.
I knew I missed the love of hurrying I wanted something new to do. It spiralled out of control by being a fun hobby to actually thinkingIm fairly good at this.
Its not without its challenges.
When you race the long you are always going to get dark things, and things once your mind wanders a bit, Charles-Barclay clarified.
Normally I get quite hungry near the close of the run. I dream about the meals Im likely to eat later. It is generally a pizza.
But following the race Ill order all that food then I feel sick so that I can not eat it anyhow. Reece normally ends it up .
Reece is Reece Barclay – her husband, trainer, training partner, and skilled athlete in his own right. The group have been itching to get a new challenge. They signed up to an Ironman.
2 decades later the womens 20-24 age-group was won by Charles-Barclay in the World Championships and applied for her professional licence.
Reece and I were hooked on the practice and discovered how big a challenge it was to get that which wed signed up for. It went to being our careers. We did not anticipate that.
Its not straightforward to find a permit . In the united kingdom, the need is to be within 8% of the winners period – that implies making the step from age-group racing to professional. Charles-Barclays application was rejected on the very first attempt.
The races I had been using to attempt to get my specialist licence were the World Championships, she explained. The professional winner was a high standard a great deal of the expert women werent within 8% either, so I essentially got the licence on a trial basis
However, the trial basis allowed Charles-Barclay to challenge and immediately. Switzerlands four-time world champion Daniela Ryf in her Ironman World Championships debut narrowly beat her in Hawaii at 2017.
Can she reflect yet another triathletes abrupt and arrival on the scene?
Chrissie Wellington was an unidentified force who came to win at the World Championship in 2007. Collect three names and she went on to dominate the sport.
At Red Bulls group of leading athletes – Charles-Barclay joined her Ryf in 2017 – her season as a pro. Since her profile grew – she has more than 250,000 Instagram followers thus did the competition.
In the World Championships that year, Charles-Barclay ended a mere eight minutes from your favorite – when the race among professionals takes approximately nine hours, which is not long.
However, it was the subsequent year when the couple turned up the heat. They began breaking records that were 19-year-old and took off from the beginning line.
They broke the course record, the womens swim course record was broken by Charles-Barclay, and the bike trail record was taken by Ryf.
It had been Ryf who was to amass the name despite almost retiring from the race because of a jellyfish sting – she became the fastest woman in an Ironman occasion, by 17 minutes.
Definitely my biggest competition is Daniela Ryf, Charles-Barclay stated. Every year I think I am edging that bit nearer and individuals are appreciating the competition because they are viewing the gaps get smaller and smaller.
I hope this year we have a much closer battle and hopefully I will come out on top.
This year, Charles-Barclay was unbeaten throughout four races before a five-minute drafting punishment in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships at September saw her slide from first to fifth.
Her highlight was winning Challenge Roth, the world triathlon event which takes place in the Italian town of Roth.
Last year I came second by nine seconds therefore it was such a huge objective of mine to get that win, she explained.
She also became a one time winner of the Ironman African Championships, winner of Challenge Samorin, and her very first home race at Ironman 70.3 Stafford.
As far as sporting history goes, triathlon is youthful but not without prestige.
For quite a few, racing on theBig Island in Hawaii is the ultimate accomplishment in the game as opponents must be eligible for a slot in their category for an Ironman-branded occasion in order there, in the birthplace of triathlon.
Its where a Navy bunch, Judy and John Collinsproposed combining three demanding races to a single event.
The battle turned into heads and the idea caught on all over the world. The occasion grew year on year, and Hawaii soon became the sponsor of the World Championships that were gruelling using unforgivable winds and its sweltering terms.
The race has always had female participants – the most effective is Paula Newby-Fraser, with eight world titles, just two over triathlon legends Mark Allen and Dave Scott.
And since the differences between Ryf and Charles-Barclay reduce perform the differences between mens and womens completing days, which stand at about half an hour.
Charles-Barclay said:I have been in this sport for around five decades now and in the years the quality of womens racing has just hugely enhanced.
The times that women are winning races in now is totally different to what it was say five to ten years ago, and there is a good deal more women doing this sport today then there was before, that is so cool to see
The sponsorship opportunities stay equivalent.
Charles-Barclay stated:The prize money is exactly the same for men and women in this game, which is great and Id say theres more opportunities – you dont feel like just because you are a woman youre likely to be paid or youre likely to have less host opportunities.
Ive definitely never felt any sort of inequality from the sport, which is excellent. It is even today although there was more spots for guys in the World Championships. Its great to see that, and it is such an inclusive sport.
Even the Ironman World Championships begin at 17:25 BST on Saturday, 12 October, at Kona, Hawaii.
BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin, former GB triathlete Annie Emmerson (with the support of some special guests) mentor three beginners aiming to finish their first triathlons in June 2019.
Check out the BBC Sport Live Guide for details of All of the forthcoming sport on the BBC.
Reviews and final standings for the 2019 World Triathlon Series.
This blend of swimming, cycling and jogging is one of the toughest tests in sport – here is find a local club and how to get involved.
There was someone out there who did do it and who could do it
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