Some may start to slow down when they turn 60 but not GB triathlete Claire Bloom.
The fitness coach from Essex didn’t let her recent birthday celebrations get in the way of her training and struck gold in the 60-64 age group of the European Triathlon Championships in Madrid in June.
Bloom flew directly to the Spanish capital from Portugal, where she marked the special occasion with her family.
She believes she is in the form of her life going into the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg next month and admitted she only fell into competing in 2009 because she wanted to prove her husband wrong.
“My husband made a quip at dinner that I wasn’t a good enough swimmer when he was training for a triathlon,” she explained. “He was meant to do the London Triathlon but he wrecked his bike and was ill the day before.
“I had to go with him to pick the bike up and I saw all these people in wetsuits and thought, ‘this is a bit of me.'
“In 2010, I did the London triathlon in a wave of 300 women where I came fifth and somebody said to me, “do you know you can compete for Great Britain?”.”
Bloom never looked back and has competed 17 times for her country, medalling six times, but Madrid was her first gold. And despite being unsettled by the Spanish race changing to a duathlon following adverse weather conditions, Bloom was in peak physical condition to win.
“The nerves were worse for the Europeans this year because there was a chance I could win it,” she said. “I felt horrible on the race morning, I had a headache, and it was just tension.
“You just go with it and hope that it’s going to hold it together. It’s amazing what the body does under such huge pressure.”
Looking ahead to 2023 World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships Hamburg, the GB triathlete is eager to pit herself against 61 athletes from across the world in her category.
She said: “I can’t wait to do it - you always want to race the best to see where you are. There are five women who I’m up against who I’ve raced before, and they’ve had the better of me. It would be nice to take a few scalps because I’ve taken a few this season that I haven’t taken before.
“I’m in good shape to give it a really good go.”
The triathlete, who runs her own online fitness business, often calls upon the advice given to her by elite coach Margot Wells.
“I’d gone on a running workshop that she was holding, and I was the only woman there,” she said.
“She said to me to hold back at the end, she gave me this whole lecture about how to psychologically compete and it’s stuck with me from then until now.
“She basically said to me, only you can run your own race, you can’t worry about the opposition because only you have that control on the start.
“You don’t have to be a nutter like me, but it is inspiring. My friends think I’m like superwoman and to be 60 and be doing that level at this age is quite something.”
To learn more about the Great Britain Age-Group Team click here.
