The Inspired Triathlete

Episode #3 Fund Her Tri UK

Celia

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Find out more about Fund Her Tri UK.
Listen to 3 womens stories about their first Triathlon.
How Fund Her Tri UK supported them.
What they got from completing their first Triathlon

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https://www.instagram.com/fundhertriuk/
https://www.fundhertriuk.org/

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[Music] hi I'm Celia boothman founder of LTR coaching and I'd like to welcome you to the inspired triathletes podcast where I'll be bringing you stories from female triathletes and taking on topics that are important to women in the sport okay hello everybody and welcome to the podcast it's really great to have you on and thank you for joining me so today we have Bianca from fun herry who has set up this group um Priya who is one of the group members Annie who is also another group member and Chloe who is also a group member so hi everyone Hi hi okay so we're just gonna talk to Bianca first um and ask her a little bit about fun herry so what kind of motivated you to set up fun herry yes well it's fun herry UK uh because actually fun herry it's an existing charity in the US which was how we were inspired to to create a spinoff it you know when when I heard about it so I was in Cora last year uh raising the idman world championships and I saw lean uh she's a creator of her Tri us she was been interviewed by the FD media and and she spoke about this charity that she created to bring women first time women into triathon you know she said we raise funds in order to remove some of the barriers that the women face at entry level you know Triathlon is expensive you know doesn't matter how you ER how you how you see it you know especially if you don't have any equipment so so they ra she said we raised funds just to support a women who want to do their first ever event and we pay for the race entry and when I heard it I just like I want to do exactly this like this is just sounds amazing so I haunted Lan all around cor until she agreed to meet me that was a little bit stalkery on my side but you know the outcome has been all good so we're all friends still um and and she was just uh delighted with like create you know us wanting to do a a satellite entity in the UK she provided us all the support you know so we are independent entities but we have the same goal so so for tried UK then you know when I came back from there I put a fers out to get some uh some of my friends to help me so I have some experienced dry athletes that we did ID and Barcelona together that they were joining me in this Quest and you know and like women we are like women right so just like from idea to execution was like three weeks you know it just amazing buil the website starting reaching out to people starting getting donations and getting our first athletes that women who were not even thinking about a triathlon but we ER approached by us you know and like recruited like we can help we can remove some of the barriers come come do one you know Annie is laughing because she's one of those that I personally you know just like brought her into the sport ER and to be fair like we never thought that fun her triy was going to be as big as it was I thought when we started I was like okay if we have 20 women in in that would be great in 2023 because we need a lot of donations in order to support that but the triathlon Community has been so generous and amazing so we have had coaches coming on board we have had race organizers that said like you guys don't have toay pay actual an actual entry like women from your group you know can be sponsored by us and so we have had donated free entries across a number of events we have kid donations so so in the end we have been able to stretch our our support much further and we have uh supported in 2023 50 women to do their first triathlon and another 20 women that are part of a mentorship program these are women who are not first timers they have done they they're still beginners you know they have just done one or two events and we want to make sure that they stay in the sport so we have paired them with an experienced triathlete female triathlete just to give them you know that kind of like guidance and ongoing support so they can stay in the sport so in total you know we have reached you know 70 which is like beyond our dreams when I had that coffee with lean in October 2022 yeah that's amazing in a year it's to to have that many people interested and it's um primarily Olympic and Sprint distance that you work with yeah yeah anything Olympic is the longest that we do because obviously we're supporting first timers you know although they are people that start with a 70.3 or Iron Man really people start with the short events you know they start at the grass levels local race organizer you know with a local uh Triathlon sometimes pool BAS you know so that's kind of like where we want to that's what we target so we don't sponsor anything above uh Olympic uh and but yeah like honestly like some of our women are just going straight for the Olympic which is impressive yeah definitely we've been delighted with with the H how it's going yeah that's super um yeah I think my first TR Salon was a super super Sprint or something like that it was Tiny so to go straight to Olympic is quite a big deal but so I I thought like when I think of my first my first was also a super super tiny it was also a women only Triathlon so it was like 300 meters s 8K bike in a 2K run and for me like I had been doing just running before that so and and I was living in Spain and because it's so hot in Spain I was not running in the summer so somebody said like why don't you do this event and I didn't have a bike I didn't know the time how to swim so I had to I had like the the entry was actually super cheap but I had like all these other cars and at least in Spain you don't need a wet but that would have been an so I just like okay I got the cheapest bike on the cathlon but I had to fund you know swimming lessons uh I didn't buy any kid because I was I don't even know if I'm going to like Triathlon you know I'm not going to you know so I just did the whole thing on my swimsuit yeah nice it's not a good idea so but I just did it because like I'm not gonna like put a lot of money into that that was still like a good 300 that when you know once B and all that stuff so uh so F her try tries to eliminate you know just a little bit of that barer at entry level just by taking take care of the entry and you can just focus on the rest yeah definitely I think that can be I was lucky CU I already had a bike but I didn't I like you I didn't want to buy special kit because it was like my first time I don't know whether I'm going to like it but yeah you feel like a bit of a superhero afterwards be a bit addictive can't it yeah awesome okay so what I'm going to do now is I'm gonna have a chat with the athletes that you've brought on and kind of get an idea of how their first triathlon went and how fun herry supported them and whether there any barriers so first up I'd like to speak to Annie hey good afternoon hi Annie okay so which oh hang on just moving something around which was what Triathlon did you do so um I opt to do the Sprint uh Triathlon at Dy lake so the Sprint distance is 750 750 m Swim 19k Bike 5K ROM um yeah that's what I to do okay and how does it go uh it went well yeah 26 weeks ago I learned how to swim so I started swimming but the story really is that I only remember attaining my 5 meter badge in primary school or infant school maybe and then that's where the Swim J Journey ended for me um and um I met Bianca 20202 yeah 2022 and just never ever thought about trifle never ever um never really because I was new to the running because running was my primary um discipline never really knew about triathlons um and so had amazing conversation with bian who's all inspiring and then I went and had I did a run in London with Matthew mov or on and then I met another lady who was an experienced triathlete and then I had another conversation which built on what Bianca had said and then all of a sudden these two I feel conspired and then I was doing a triath I don't know how it happened well when you want to learn to do something I'm the type of person that puts themselves in really uncomfort spaces to be able to do it so I wanted to learn to swim I led riding my bike hadn't done it for a long time I loved running why not do a triac so there we go Dy Lake 27th um of August just recently finished um completed it and I was I was I don't think I was petrified of the swim but you know the whole swim for me was going to be the the part of the race that I would really be fearful of um if that the right choice of words but it was actually not as dreading as I thought it was I just I think a lot of work has gone on into my mind about enjoying we talk about enjoying it and it's the taking part but actually just really thinking out and just getting on with it but actually just not using swimming as for me I I found swimming has been the hardest thing that I've had to do in my 40s um and I really didn't want to hate it so I felt like I had to invest a lot of love into it and I think that's why on the day I just really as I stepped into that water my friends were behind me they said you just went in there so confidently and it was just like and I felt at ease you know and so I feel like it was the best thing that um Bianca and Monica encouraged me to do um and thunder try had has been um an excellent charity support group handh holder advice giver um love love bucket of people and lots of different things to help support that that iconic because I call it iconic because like I just I get Goose pimples when I think about the fact that I've gone from the five me and now I can swim not only just swim that distance but actually through an Open Water i' never that's a massive deal for me you know and at every step of the way even down to last week when I had a little bit of a mini meltdown because I couldn't get into a wet suit and I was doing all the ankles like she just got these text messes just say it's okay yeah don't worry you know um and having that Community behind me um has been epic so thank you Bianca for being Brave and Bold and moving forward and creating this massive charity which is going to grow and grow and grow because um I run for black girls do run but you know Tasha said like you know you've even inspired me to to swim do you know what I mean because that's the hurdle that she you know and I think that this is what happens the the pebble that dropped that day for you bianka is Rippling out and there's people that are getting caught up in that and I think it's magic absolute magic yeah I love that that you know Bianca's helped you and then you're now we really enthusiastic about it and that will spread to other people and you can ex you know your biggest barrier was the swim is that right your biggest barrier and so if you can do that biggest then you can show exactly we can do hard things and I think I think you know really and truly when I was do some research about this even for today um it's a high percentage especially of black and ethnic who do not swim do you see what I mean we're looking at about 95% of blacks and we look at 80% of children that's phenomenal you see what I mean so it's and then that extends out as well and I feel that um if we can get this momentum and get women into breaking down the barriers that exist because I know people who are learning to ride now that is the barrier for them do you see what I mean and I think if we can get more athletes into this field it's absolutely epic and fto try is working tirelessly to do that and so the fact that we have people donating that has to continue to ensure that this kind of moves forward and goes yeah for sure so what so with triathlon was it about Triathlon particularly that you think has been super inspiring because you said you were a member of um black girls run is that right yeah I am I mean running you take up you take up different sports don't you people have primary disciplines whether it's swimming whether it's cycling whether it's running yeah um but I I felt that training for my what I loved about doing a triathlon is the diversity of the train training and the fact that you've got three disciplines okay when I'm training for running or ultra running you're running and you're running and you're running but yeah the okay you can put your cyc because they all contribute but I just loved the challenge of being able to train on my bike being able to run being able to swim and I think that's what I really enjoy because obviously you have to put the working you know I'm swimming three to four times a week I'm cycling I'm running but it's variety you know there say variety of the spice of life but I felt like that was the thing that really excited me about training for a triathlon is the fact of the variety of it and that I didn't feel that I was always solely doing one thing you know I felt like that was and then you have to put it together at the end as well don't you so you have to kind of like figure out okay I've got to go from swim to bite and there's all that kind of my training so you did do the did the bike which actually gave me I think going forward next time what I found the trickiest because my transition time was the swim to the bike that was trying to get off the web yeah that's worth practicing as well and when I got out of the water I was like oh you know you go from that to that I did a little bit but um that's all that's all learning points and learning cures that I'll take into my next Triathlon bian yeah so you're going to do another one that's success is it that's amazing if I can add something silia before you on course ladies you know one of the things that we do in from her Tri UK that that's definitely unique to us we we have a community as well so you know all all the ladies who want to join we have a WhatsApp group and and they that has been like such an incredible source of support from them between each other you know like uh some they just chat about their fear their questions you know and they're all able to just support each other like one of the ladies just she just did this list you know for everything that she needed on the day and how she would organize it and like even I'm using that list and I'm an experience so like we're all just a group is just really really nice so sometimes people are just very quiet there but you see the information and you see what everybody's going on so um so obviously this when I started like there was none of that you know I was just like by myself say off and try you know these girls are starting like like in in a little bit of a cocoon you know of yeah for sure it's really nice and I think this happens when you get a group of women together the community is always so supportive that's what I found in you know Triathlon and it isn't easy when you're getting into it because if you go to a local Club then the majority of people are usually men in that club so it's nice to have that support network with you where you can go to when and you know some of my clients sometimes get advice well well-meaning advice which isn't very supportive sometimes so and I think women are really good at lifting each other up and and helping each other you know with our insecurities and fears and our lack of confidence that we sometimes have and we can help to inspire each other rather than kind of like knocking each other down or anything like that so I think that's amazing that you've you've got that Community as well it's it shows I can hear it in your voice you know how excited you are about that and how much value you've got from it yeah I think was really what was really good as well for was that fact that um there were sessions for us for example uh exploring wet suits um trying them on having conversation with experts what is it you want you know it's something that I've never done before but I could have this conversations and we did that in a community field you know going in to Giant and actually talking about my bike and then looking at my bike you know just I can come bring it there before I try and actually know that it would be sorted and give um just um zooms or face to face on really important topics that You' probably never thought about but actually it's building your subject knowledge and having those meaningful conversations with each other and the learning that have taken place that is you know you don't necessarily get that do you so that have been phenomenal F try and I think also with with women they have different questions and different things that they want to learn and if you go online and look at a lot of the triathlon information that's out there a lot of it is kind of geared to what's what what men are interested in because most of the triathletes in the world are men um so a lot of that information is sort of filtered through a male lens rather than through a female lens so it's really good that you have that and you're getting those questions answered and you're not having to feel like oh should I be asking this or not you know it just provides that nice environment for you guys totally yeah okay I'm GNA move on because I know we're a little bit pressed for time so I'll move on to prayer that's okay hi priia hello so which trialon did you do so I also did the Dorney Lake Triathlon back in July 16th of this year um I did I was one of the crazy ones who jumped right into an Olympic distance um so I was laughing when you guys were commenting on that uh so the just to reiterate the swim was 1500 M the uh cycle was 40K and the Run was 10 K okay y it's a big uh thing to take on as your first triathon did you feel nervous when you were very nervous yeah okay so what was it that made you choose Olympic distance then sure so I think maybe my background might be a little bit different to other women um you know entering Triathlon for the first time um I have been running for a long time I was a competitive runner back in the US that this accent is from New York um and so back in the US High School sports are really big I was a competitive Runner long distance we went to state championships in New York twice we had a a good uh developed team and I even went on to run a little bit in college before being sidelined by injuries high mileage it's bound to happen in young girls and but I continued running I've done five New York City marathons nine in total full distance marathons um qualified for Boston and so I have a very broad vast established running base I'd say yeah and then along with that um so I was very into running Mark much like any and uh my husband is much more of a cyclist and so to spend any time together on weekends we' go on on Long cycle rides like six hours you know however long the the time that we had daylight that we had on Saturdays while we were in New York and even here and then I ended up um joining islon Cycling Club because they had a large women's community and that again built that cycling base um long cycle rides on the weekends women's only rides really enjoyed them as well as doing uh women's only region Park laps so that up my speed so those two things those two disciplines of the triathlon I felt that I had a very strong Basin and the Sprint almost felt like a little bit little uh um because of that endurance base base and cycling and running but because I was like I wanted to C capture or I wanted to tackle the Olympic distance in the bike and the run the swimming was the big hurdle much like Annie um so in January just on a whim it was a life goal of mine to be able to swim further without having to stop and I couldn't swim 25 M I wouldn't drown if you threw me in the deep end of a pool but couldn't do 25 meters and I went with my friend who does Iron Man's um and she's doing laps up and down and the coach says to me in a 25 meter pool priia if you can do halfway that's good how embarrassing but TR but that's just the honest starting point and so I stuck with the coach I stuck with I found group lessons the cheapest ones I could find um better the better gyms around London and I just started showing up I found group lessons at other gyms and since January I started working on the technique because that's all I probably need to do for the next three years five years it seems like um before upping the endurance and just have been working on it doing 10 by 100 meter drills 10 by 50 drills and trying to get up that ability to do, 1500 continuous so that was one hurdle of the swim the second much scarier hurdle was the Open Water part okay and unlike Annie I still have not overcome that hurdle of panic of entering a new environment and not feeling like Panic dread oh my God this is so scary um and I still feel that in pools in New Pools I still feel that even though I have the confidence of being able to do 2,000 meters now and um without stopping it's just it's just this weird feeling of oh I don't know what's out there I've never done this before I've never been here before uh so so that's something I I think I'll still have to work on as we move forward but um yeah really exciting that I was able to do it yeah I don't think you're the only one to be honest you know I think that's that is you know you're in an unfamiliar situation you're bound to feel a little bit of fear and managing it is going to be a little bit of a challenge but it's something that you definitely can do so I'm amazing for doing it it sounds like you had like quite a good level of confidence before you entered then the Olympic distance if with the background in running and the because I'm just thinking about my first triathlon and I remember thinking about doing a triathlon a long time ago like before many years before I actually did one and I was like that's loads of training I couldn't possibly do that you know I'll be I'll be doing an event for like one and a half hours and thinking that that was a long time so yeah you know everyone starts at different places don't they and you know what might be a All For You might not be a challenge for someone else and it's that's what's great about it is that we've all got these different starting points and yeah so it's actually something I've thought about since University um I just had never the the swimming hurdle was such a big mountain to to like overcome to climb up that I just put it off for so long yeah yeah for sure definitely well that was amazing that you did it and what was your kind of biggest win do you think from the day sure so you know part of um what uh Bianca asks of you after uh fund her try UK um sponsors you she says hey if you'd like we'd love a race report and I've read so many of them from the other women who've participated at various distances feel you feel very inspired and get chills after reading some of them like really well done and so I think because of the journey that had I felt quite emotional after my own um Triathlon and writing that race report really felt like a a journal entry almost like putting down those emotions on paper and it was a really nice way of sharing how like the journey that I had I what I told you about the swimming the Panic um and it also helped consolidate some of those thoughts because those big feelings are sometimes hard to understand even as adults and so what I realized was you know as an adult um yeah that's true you don't really learn new skills or face big big challenges as often um until you put yourself heading through them I think Annie also spoke about this and I think for me that swim was was a bit of um a way for me to show that show myself rather um that I can still grow I can still attack something head on and really achieve and and um overcome it even though that this was terrifying for me this was Panic inducing and then I also found ways to self soothe in a way um I realize that if I get into those panicked moments or if I am just feeling uncertain it was all about my breath control and and using my breath to regulate my emotion in that moment so at the start of Dorney I can still picture it we're heading towards this big circular or this triangular um like boy uh you know like it felt like 20 50 meters ahead and everyone's you know kicking everyone in the head trying to get out and I'm just thinking it's fine it's fine just take a deep breath in and out and that's what I'm saying to myself instead of putting my head in the water forcing myself to start my front crawl um I just told myself 20 more breaths and then we'll get into it 20 more breaths and we'll get into it and then I wasn't really sure that I wanted to so I I went uh five Strokes front crawl and then popped back up five breaths and really just eased myself in and so that was something that again I was able to teach myself to calm down take it easy take it in and so do you think that will affect like other areas of your life as well learning those techniques I think so I think moving across the Atlantic has been harder than I imagined yeah um and you know emotionally uh you know being dis it feels like you're being displaced away from friends and family sometimes the emotions do get big you know you feel a little bit down about um being away missing big moments and I think um it's like it what what the breathing does It Centers yourself yeah and almost makes you feel grateful for the moment and I think in the same way even if I wouldn't like uh have myself do a breathing exercise um I think that centering feels good definitely yeah and the alternative was also I've met some amazing women through front her try I've met amazing women through Islington Cycling Club um Annie mentioned Mafia moves I've met some great people in that cycling um in that running club as well so I've had myself get out there um as a result of wanting to get involved in Triathlon and that's another um added bonus I'd say amazing well that's really good to hear yeah so well done as well freia that's amazing it sounds like you've kind of worked through a lot of stuff there as well with it so that's so cool um we're gonna move on to Chloe just so we can have a chat with everyone but thank you I'd love to talk to you all for longer actually it's like it's so hard trying to trying to squeeze everyone's in go on chlo is one of our athletes that we definitely hunted down and recruited definitely oh no Chas okay Chloe hello hi good to meet you good to meet you too um it's been absolutely incredible listening to Annie and stories I feel like that's inspired me just just listening to them um I have a slightly different background I think from listening to their stories I only got into sport probably around five or six years ago um following the diagnosis of my fifth disability or invisible disability um and for me being told that I shouldn't exert myself too much I shouldn't go on runs I shouldn't um ovx exercise I found myself signing up to a half marathon four months later um having not done anything before I kind of saw it more as a more as a challenge and rather than seeing my um disabilities as barriers I see them as as let's see how far yeah challenges how far how far can I helpfully push my body yeah um and I think for me the past year so following I got covid for the first time last summer and it really really affected me and it affected my health um and I I have just finished a year at Oxford University it was my fourth degree and I was doing a degree in education I found myself in a bit of a rut hadn't done a lot of exercise um and thought I needed a new new challenge that wasn't another half marathon and a triathlon came to mind and I'd never ever thought of it before for someone who doesn't have a sporting background going oh I think I'm going to do a triathlon next month there's a bit of a bizarre bit of a bizar thought and I'm very fortunate in that my parents threw me into swimming lessons when I was younger so I've not been swimming for Fitness probably since I was about I maybe 15 years or so okay um so I have the swimming kind of Foundations and but haven't done too much um I decided I was going to sign up it was the Henley Triathlon that I did I did the Super Sprint I started nice and easy and I will put a disclaimer in that it was a pool swim I haven't quite I haven't quite got over the fear of Open Water Swimming as of yet but about I think it was three four weeks before the triathon was I started going on Facebook groups seeing if I could get any secondhand equipment I didn't have a bike I didn't have a suit didn't have anything um and a wonderful woman uh who I believe it's called Charlotte on one of the groups reached out and said have you heard of fund her try UK um and that was how I first heard about it um and reached out overnight and be the anchor and team have been nothing but incredible um ever since I first reached out uh and found out about the charity um and not only have they offered that financial support I know we we've all spoken about the financial barrier that trions have you know I had to buy my first bike I had to buy my first suit and and big things like this this it's actually become this community where I feel like I've got a group of older sisters that I can either although I haven't been on the whatsa group too much um unfortunately had a rather busy summer but it is this incredible Community where you also get this emotional psychological and also educational support um I know that a couple of weeks ago um I was on a call with with yourself and we talk about mental cycle and the effect that that has on your training and so it's fun to try just isn't this charity that can help financially with that barrier of first triathon it's so much more and similar to what um Annie and priia said I I I can't quite put into words how much it has meant to me the support that has been offered through the charity um but it it was absolutely incredible it was in July I'd finished a 90-hour work week and then for some reason AB absolutely wasn't feeling the tri but it was everything and more and I crossed that Finish Line never being more proud of myself and the first thing that came to mind was I think I might sign up to an Iron Man next year y I have absolutely been bitten by the bug and I'm that sort of person where if I'm doing something I will give it more than 100% I will put my everything into it um so cool triathlons only go one way you know you just do do another one of the same size or longer like that's like you never like downgrade I will be forever known as a triathlete I've just moved into a new house and my medal is up on the wall in Prime place so you can see it when you walk through the front door um but no I've already been looking at as I said I've just moved house so I'm in a new area I've been looking at um Triathlon clubs cycle clubs I've signed up to a new um a new Leisure Center where I'm hoping to get some swimming lessons so I chose to do um breast stroke for the swim because I've not done front CW in so long and I can't I couldn't quite manage my breathing along kind of with the fear of doing my first trath Lon and having to monitor yeah myself so I'm looking at signing out for some swimming lessons I'm looking at joining a Cycling Club um it has opened more doors than I thought yeah it really has yeah it sounds like that you know as you say you talk about the financial kind of barriers to getting into the sport but there's a whole lot more than that isn't there that's going on with barriers it's not just purely Financial there's a lot of things that can kind of hold us back or stop us from having the belief in ourselves and I think what you've done Bianca is provide that as well as everything else which is amazing um sorry Clary I just wanted to ask so was what was your kind of biggest barrier would you say going in you said you had a background in swimming what what else was there that kind of held you back from or was there anything well I honestly think the biggest barrier was my health um I said I had a really difficult year and the thing is with my disabilities is either one will flare up or they will all flare up right time and I'd done that 90h hour work week just before hand and I'd been working quite hard before that and I was start yeah on the edge flare up and I woke up that morning of the triathlon and I felt absolutely awful really hard to get out of bed but the the support that's within the group and hearing everyone else successes within the WhatsApp group that that we've got for fun Troy I did read I was sat in bed reading it that morning and I thought I'm going to get through this this is this this is going to be me um but also on top of the support from fun TR I will say that UK Triathlon were incredibly supportive um of my health and my disabilities and the support that they offered beforehand and at the event even with me in my panicked state of not knowing what to do or where to go it being my first um was so reassuring and I I felt like part of the triathlete community the minute that I got there and got my number and set everything up um they were so helpful with timings and Transitions and they allowed somebody to just stand in the tri transition area with me in case I did need them at any point um but I think for me Health was the biggest barrier going into it but yeah since doing that Triathlon it shown me that actually that was just a barrier that was in in my head and I'm aware that it could have been worse I could have had a and you know my flare up could have been even worse that day and there might have been a point where maybe I couldn't do it but it was the support from fun her try and the group chat and the the energy that everybody gives and all of us athletes within that chat give that really did did help me get through what could have been a difficult barrier on that day yeah and were you okay afterwards was it did you have any knock on effect or weirdly enough I had nothing at all everyone kept messaging me and say yet you doing you know you you got Doms and I had nothing I was feeling I was on adrenaline high for about three weeks afterwards that's really good to hear that's amazing the doors need to start you know prescribing Triathlon yeah it sounds like it yeah just listening to to like and look obviously we at the committee we work really hard and we know that you guys are having great days but actually like hearing it firsthand has been like really emotional for me too so thank you no thank you thank you Bianca for all that you've done and everything that the team do honestly I wouldn't be in this position and wouldn't done that if it wasn't for everything that you do yeah that's so cool and yeah it sounds like that's kind of having a knock on effect on your life as well like in a wider area rather than you know when looking at yeah you completed a triathlon but what else did that give you and what other doors has it opened up for you that's what Triathlon can do for you and especially if you go down the route of like long distance stuff that's like oh my God I'm expecting to see Chloe in our Mentor program because we're going to have our mentorship program is going to be changed a little bit next year and we're going to have mentoring circles so we're going to have you know um you know Olympic Circle a Sprint Circle Idan Circle 70.3 so we're going to pair a number of athletes who are doing like that kind of longan events and have five or six uh people just going for you know something like an idol man and then just bear them with an experienced person so I'm expecting to see chlo program now that's amazing count count me in and sign me up that's great okay so we got a few minutes left I just wanted to wrap up thank you ever so much guys it's really nice to hear like how you experienced your first try it kind of like brings that feeling back to me as well of the excitement of it all and you know how much I've got from it over the years and and what I've learned and how it's changed me as a person like massively there's a huge amount of growth that you can get from doing the sport um and you don't you know you don't have to do Iron Man either you know you can do like smaller events and you can get a lot from that if you've got specific fears or barriers or challenges that you need to get over or want to get over then you can find that environment within any kind of event if if you're looking at it through that lens as well so I think it's amazing that you're all doing that and you you sound like you you're looking at it in a very holistic way not just like I want to do a triathlon and and complete that there's a lot more going on here as well so that's amazing so yeah Bianca I just wanted to finish off with you because I know some people have to jump off the call um if people want to find out about fun her try I'm going to put the link to your web page in the show notes and and that kind and your social media but is there anything that you'd like people to know about that we can just finish up with now absolutely so yes thank you if you can just share our website and and obviously people can follow us on social media as well uh there are many ways to supp fund her Tri UK I know that money is tight so you know money donations are not necessarily the only way you can support us you know we also have kid donation we have like I said that kind of uh how you did Celia with us that you provided a webinar you know some sort of you can be a mentor maybe you can be a coach for us so there are many ways that that we and we actually need some hands to to help us in the committee you know there's a lot of work on the back so so we can also we have some like we're trying to draft you know some few roles that we can have volunteers take on take on them uh for next year we want to have 100 women you know where we definitely want to just go just duplicate our Rich we want to have a 100 new TR athletes who are who are women or non-binary people so that's our goal and definitely have something like another 15 or mentoring program so um so 2024 is expected to be a big year for us which obviously we need a lot of donations for that but we also like if you're a raise director and you want to support us you know we can have Partnerships in there H with some discount and kind of you know that kind of thing and uh f as well have provided us with been super kind and providing also discount for athletes so if you're a brand and want to support us that way that's also appreciated and we have a project as well next year we're collaborating with cycle sisters UK they are that brings Muslim women into cycling so we want to have at least 10 women from that group becoming triathletes next year as well they have barriers obviously inning the sport ER and we want to H support them in those bers you know like we're trying to Target One race and just make all the accommodations with the race organizers to make sure that you know they're welcome you know like they're removed from that so uh watch this space is going to be a very exciting project for for us as well definitely so that's where we are so yeah that's awesome and yeah thank you so much for talking to me um' be great we might do some followup at some point I'm sure because there's so much that we could talk about and it's really nice to meet you all and you know good luck with your next Triathlon whatever you end up doing you know enjoy it and get get as much as you can from the experience and learn what you can but yeah it's great to meet you guys and thank you for your time thank you so much thank you no worries thank you take care and byebye thanks for listening today have a great day take care bye for[Music] now