Podium dream is all the Chatt
Tri athlete Shona to chase success in Tennessee
Shona Girdwood wants a podium finish at the World Half-ironman Championships in America next month – but says it would be ‘amazing’ to win.
The 47-year-old was astonished to qualify for the race in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by winning the 45-49 age group in the Barcelona Half-ironman at the end of May when she was 11th female overall.
And Shona hopes to equal that feat in the USA on Saturday, September 9. It can’t come quickly enough for Shona who is a sports development officer at South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture.
The race in Chattanooga will involve a 1900m swim, 90km bike and a halfmarathon to finish. In Barcelona, 1400m of the bike section was uphill.
Shona said: “I was competing in the Barcelona 70.3 in May and won my age group, so the winner of that automatically qualifies for the World Championships. It’s coming up really soon, four weeks, and I’m really excited. I didn’t expect to qualify when I went to Barcelona, my main goal was to get on the podium.
“I didn’t think about winning but I had a fantastic race and it all came together on the day, so I was delighted.
“I won the UK 70.3 two years ago but the quality of the field in Barcelona was a lot higher, so I would say that’s one of my highest achievements and I’m chuffed to bits.
“I’d love to get a podium place in Chattanooga. If I have a good race, if I have the perfect race for the fitness that I’m at, then I have a chance to get on the podium.
“Realistically though, if I got top six I would be absolutely delighted. I just want to do as well as I can do and have a good race.
“If I won it, it would be amazing. I won the bronze in Beijing in 2011 at the World Championships, so I’d love to win, that is my goal, to try and win a medal in age group 70.3 and then move up to Ironman.”
Shona is a veteran triathlete and is also a coach. The fact that husband James is also an experienced Ironman competitor helps .
She said: “I was a competitive swimmer, I swam for Scotland when I was younger, then went in to track running and started triathlon in 2006, so that’s 11 years.
“There have been a lot of achievements over that time, so it has been good. I’ll keep doing triathlon for as long as I can.
“In Barcelona the oldest competitor over there was 79 – and made all the cut-off times.
“With my husband we both do half-ironman and ironman, that’s our holidays, that’s our life – going abroad training, picking out different races and trying to qualify for different things, to achieve something new.
“And it’s good competition between the two of us.”