The dress rehearsals are over, Beth Potter acknowledges. Things, the Olympian declares, are about to get very real.
Forget that the Glaswegian is only two weeks removed from booking her place in the 10,000 metres at this summer’s world athletics championships in London by winning the British title. Running, for the past five months, has merely been a nifty sideline.
Instead, Potter has been immersed in taking a rapid conversion course into triathlon, forced to strip her knowledge in the dark arts of swimming and cycling back to the absolute basics under the watch of British Triathlon’s coaching staff in Leeds. Following a couple of under-the-radar outings to test her progress, she will take the plunge in earnest into the fray at tomorrow’s Super Series event at Blenheim and pray she stays afloat.
Once a national medallist at Under-16 level, Potter was not entirely wet behind the ears in the initial discipline. “My swimming has come back quicker than I expected,” the 25-year-old reveals. “I was away on camp recently and I came on leaps and bounds.
“Cycling is obviously my weakness but it was good to get experience of getting out in a group and also to learn more of the technical stuff through some one-on-one coaching. We have a cycle track in Leeds and I’ve been on it, trying to get used to handling. But I think it will take a year to get up to speed even though I improve with every session. A lot of it is just confidence, knowing what I’m doing.”
There has been guidance and wisdom close to home with her landlord, Olympic silver medallist Jonny Brownlee, able to offer some reassurance from the comfort of the sofa. Gains have been made. Much more is still required but even though the track will call in August, Potter has given herself 18 months to make the grade and will not allow even a world championships to knock her off-course.
The initial target is to compete at next year’s Commonwealth Games for Scotland. That goal means opting out, for now, from triathlon’s main Olympic distance circuit and into events that might open the door to the Gold Coast.
“Because the Commonwealths is at sprint distance, I have to qualify in that kind of race rather than Olympic distance,” she says. “So I might only fit in one of those this summer. I’ll do Blenheim Super Series and then another race in Cardiff. I need to build up results to get into a few other races so planning is tricky. If I get a few under my belt, I can see more how it goes.”
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