Read how 70 newbies from the Tri For Roop team took on and conquered Human Race’s Banana Triathlon at Dorney Lake.
On 29th June, 70 newbies of the Tri For Roop team took on Human Race’s Banana Triathlon at Dorney Lake.
The majority of the team had signed up 4-5 months ago with the challenge to complete their first ever triathlon. What made this goal even more impressive was the fact that most had no background in fitness, let alone the swim, bike and run experience.
Some hadn’t cycled in over 30 years, others never run and all panicked at the idea of open water swimming. It was a big challenge, and much more than learning the technical aspects of and training and building fitness, this was also about overcoming life-long fears and building confidence.
The team was coached by Level 2 BTF coach Tej Thaker, who has been encouraging people to get into triathlon and do this race in honour of his brother Roop, who he started his triathlon journey with in 2011. This year Tej has qualified to represent Great Britain at World and European Championships for duathlon and triathlon, a goal he set with his brother nearly 5 years ago.
The team have an active WhatsApp and Facebook group which has helped to build confidence and share A-Z of information leading up to the race day. Team members were provided documents including with "Tips and Tricks for Race Day" and an "Order of Race Day" which covered everything from parking to registration and crossing the finish line.
Since signing up, the team have trained at the 2012 Olympic pool and VeloPark in Stratford and completed park runs and open water swim sessions all over London and England.
The sessions were successful and very well received. The result of a good support network, coach, training sessions, socials and advice on what equipment to get from where, there was a 100% success rate. Every single person completed the triathlon and came away beaming with confidence and excited to do another race.
“From zero fitness base to completing your first triathlon, all within just 4-5 months is a huge success. These men, women, boys and girls are now triathletes, and they are an inspiration,” said Tej Thaker.
“I strongly believe that the mindset you develop from accomplishing something like this is transferable to other areas of your life. You couldn’t swim 50m in a pool, and you’ve just swum 400m in open water and completed a triathlon! If you can do that, dealing with an issue at work, or at home can be easy in comparison!”
Post race quotes from some of the newly crowned triathletes:
“I couldn’t even run for the bus at the start of this process, now I’m a triathlete and it feels amazing.” Deepika
“ I’ve been wanting to do a triathlon for quite a few years, and nowi’ll sign up to do another” Becci
“Enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and it was much less stressful. I’ll be back next year with the team to beat my time” Andy
“The feeling of crossing the finish line was immense. Now I can see why people do this regularly. I’m doing another one.” Priya
“Feel like a million dollars. I’m already looking around for my next one” Himal
“Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it” Meera
“Caught the bug. I want to do a Half Ironman now” Vivek
“I am now a triathlete! Not something id ever thought id call myself. I want to go back again.” Paul
“Being on the whats app group and having support and cheers on the day made a lot of difference. London to Brighton next.” Dave
“Absolutely amazing day and experience” Tom
