Steve Ellison - Fusion member since 2011
Attend most sessions and also now a qualified coach, working mainly with the juniors but occasionally an adult session or 2…. enjoying sessions is a very subjective word depending on how I’m feeling and how hard JD is pushing me!
1st Qualification race. 2013 British Standard Distance Champs Liverpool – This was a massive shock to the system. Went into the race having trained hard set a PB over standard course by over 10 mins and ended up 73rd in age group. Discovered that day just how far off the pace I was and how much more work was to be done.
1st GB race – 2015 Chicago World Standard Distance Triathlon Champs. Since then I’ve raced AG a further twice, qualified for another 2 championships that I didn’t race at due to costs and back racing AG in 2019 at World Duathlon Champs in April.
Advice? Speak to other athletes who have been through the process before and be prepared to work bloody hard and travel a lot. I think the biggest shock for me was just how competitive the male AG races are. Make sure you have a good support network around you as well including partners/families and other people in the club! It was seeing other athletes making the AG teams, using them as a benchmark and feeding off their positivity that made me try, and eventually succeed in getting that elusive GB trisuit. Pulling it on for the first time is an incredibly humbling experience and makes all the long hours of training absolutely worth it. The atmosphere and experience at a championship event is very very special and you get to meet some amazing people not just from the GB team, but other nations as well. I’ve got quite a few pieces of other nations kit as souvenirs post race…..