The international competition season is now well underway with World Cups 1 & 2 in Charlotte, USA and Rio de Janeiro already completed. Results for our British Modern Pentathlete’s were overall strong with Mhairi Spence making the podium in 2nd place in Charlotte. It was good to see Nick Woodbridge achieve back to back top 6 finishes and also Sam Weale come back strongly in Rio to finish 7th. Our two London qualified athletes Jamie Cooke and Freyja Prentice faltered however, and I feel sure they’ll be looking forward to reasserting themselves at World Cups 3 & 4 in the next month. Also impressive was Samantha Murray who finished 6th in Charlotte as well as winning two ‘B’ category internationals in Hungary this year. It all goes to demonstrate our strength in depth - up to six British women who are capable of achieving the Olympic qualifying standard, and of course, we can only take two. Under the circumstances squad morale is remarkably good and I’ve been impressed by how the athletes have handled questions about this tough situation whenever asked. As the coaching and management team it is our responsibility to keep them focused positively on their next performance and make sure that they all have a fair crack at selection. The two men and two women who come through this process really will have proved themselves worthy challengers for the podium, and our carefully considered selection policy may be tested as never before!
It has been a busy month or so on wider Team GB matters. Firstly a logistics planning session at our final preparation base at Loughborough University, followed by a recce to th
Olympic village with all 26 Olympic Team Leaders. The village is in great shape, and yet I anticipate some challenges in living there. For a start, the real estate is 50% the size of the village in Beijing which itself was 50% the size of Athens in 2004. In other words, it’s compact! This will be great for walking around and gaining easy access to the adjacent Olympic Park, however it could be quite noisy. Regardless, it was good to put all our plans under the microscope and see how the attention to detail in all aspects of performing in the village was coming together.
The squad also welcomed Sarah Brown, wife of the former Prime Minister to our training centre at the University of Bath at the end of February. (Pictured above: With Sarah Brown and Jamie Cooke after completing the Piggy Bank Kids Modern Pentathlon challenge) Along with TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, Sarah had been in training for several months to complete a sponsored Modern Pentathlon event to raise money for her charity Piggy Bank Kids. On the day, Sarah completed all five events on her own as Lorraine had fallen from her horse while training and was not well enough to have a go. Egged on by every member of our Olympic squad, she completed the challenge in impressive style and showed an uncanny talent for the laser pistol shooting element of the Combined Event. It really was a brave effort and thoroughly deserving of the National Squad top presented to her as a memento of the day. Several thousand pounds were also raised for a good cause.
It has been a busy month or so on wider Team GB matters. Firstly a logistics planning session at our final preparation base at Loughborough University, followed by a recce to th
Olympic village with all 26 Olympic Team Leaders. The village is in great shape, and yet I anticipate some challenges in living there. For a start, the real estate is 50% the size of the village in Beijing which itself was 50% the size of Athens in 2004. In other words, it’s compact! This will be great for walking around and gaining easy access to the adjacent Olympic Park, however it could be quite noisy. Regardless, it was good to put all our plans under the microscope and see how the attention to detail in all aspects of performing in the village was coming together.
The squad also welcomed Sarah Brown, wife of the former Prime Minister to our training centre at the University of Bath at the end of February. (Pictured above: With Sarah Brown and Jamie Cooke after completing the Piggy Bank Kids Modern Pentathlon challenge) Along with TV presenter Lorraine Kelly, Sarah had been in training for several months to complete a sponsored Modern Pentathlon event to raise money for her charity Piggy Bank Kids. On the day, Sarah completed all five events on her own as Lorraine had fallen from her horse while training and was not well enough to have a go. Egged on by every member of our Olympic squad, she completed the challenge in impressive style and showed an uncanny talent for the laser pistol shooting element of the Combined Event. It really was a brave effort and thoroughly deserving of the National Squad top presented to her as a memento of the day. Several thousand pounds were also raised for a good cause.
