Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory Manager Dr Anna Bertram travelled to Auckland in October 2012 as part of the Great Britain Team to compete in the International Triathlon Union World Championships. In this truly international field were athletes from New Zealand, USA, Australia, Great Britain, Mexico, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and many other up and coming triathlon nations.
Anna qualified for both the Sprint and Olympic distances at the World Championships in Auckland and the Sprint distance for the European Championships in Turkey in June 2013. Auckland’s race consisted of a gruelling 1500m swim in Queens Wharf followed by a hilly 40 km cycle through Auckland and along the surrounding coastline and culminated with a 10km run around the city’s harbours
Anna got into triathlon just over 4 years ago after a friend persuaded her to enter the London Triathlon, she had coaching to improve her swimming in cold, murky lakes. She had been a keen cyclist for some years and after three seasons in triathlon saw a major improvement in her running. It was this improvement, coupled with a strong cycling background, which made qualifying for an international competition a possibility. Anna was extremely pleased to have competed in a World Championships in just her 4th year in the sport. Anna says “It was an absolutely amazing experience to represent Great Britain in an international event and one which I think will always be in my top 5 lifetime achievements. I’m now turning my attention to preparations for the European Championships in Alanya, Turkey next June.”
Posted on Thursday 29th November 2012