Name: Heather Hobbs
Age: 54
Location: St Albans, Hertfordshire.
About me: I’m a full time research scientist at GSK. I have two grown up children; a daughter who thinks putting on trainers is too much like hard work and a son who’s in the paratroopers. My husband is a considerably better cyclist than me, runs occasionally, also much faster than me, but thankfully swims like a brick.
Previous experience: I entered my first triathlon in 2007. I swam breaststroke and was almost the slowest swimmer in the race but I’ve always been a cyclist and as a half-decent runner my overall result wasn’t too shabby. That was it, I was hooked.
Wind forwards 9 years and I’d learned to swim front crawl, conquered my fear of open water, (well maybe not completely, anyone who’s seen me before a race will know that’s not true) and was standing on the edge of a lake Austria in team GB kit trying to psych myself up for my first Middle Distance European Triathlon championships. I’ve since raced Herning (Denmark); Ibiza and Targu Mures (Romania) Middle Distance championships for team GB. Apparently being a rubbish swimmer doesn’t matter if you’re pretty handy on a bike.
I’ve ridden the Fred Whitton (in snow), the Raid des Pyrenees (in rain), the Ventoux cingles (not windy that day), competed in two road cycling world championships (Aviles and Varese) and last summer completed the North Coast 500, which was awesome!
I will always be a cyclist at heart, a runner when injuries allow (increasingly infrequently) but never a swimmer.
Current goals: To get to IM Switzerland, (preferably injury free) to get round in one piece, and to be able to walk the following day
Bucket list events: LEJOG, cycle tours of pretty much anywhere.
Any other random facts: In my first open water Triathlon I swam into a tree Heather Hobbs
Name: Heather Hobbs
Age: 54
Location: St Albans, Hertfordshire.
About me: I’m a full time research scientist at GSK. I have two grown up children; a daughter who thinks putting on trainers is too much like hard work and a son who’s in the paratroopers. My husband is a considerably better cyclist than me, runs occasionally, also much faster than me, but thankfully swims like a brick.
Previous experience: I entered my first triathlon in 2007. I swam breaststroke and was almost the slowest swimmer in the race but I’ve always been a cyclist and as a half-decent runner my overall result wasn’t too shabby. That was it, I was hooked.
Wind forwards 9 years and I’d learned to swim front crawl, conquered my fear of open water, (well maybe not completely, anyone who’s seen me before a race will know that’s not true) and was standing on the edge of a lake Austria in team GB kit trying to psych myself up for my first Middle Distance European Triathlon championships. I’ve since raced Herning (Denmark); Ibiza and Targu Mures (Romania) Middle Distance championships for team GB. Apparently being a rubbish swimmer doesn’t matter if you’re pretty handy on a bike.
I’ve ridden the Fred Whitton (in snow), the Raid des Pyrenees (in rain), the Ventoux cingles (not windy that day), competed in two road cycling world championships (Aviles and Varese) and last summer completed the North Coast 500, which was awesome!
I will always be a cyclist at heart, a runner when injuries allow (increasingly infrequently) but never a swimmer.
Current goals: To get to IM Switzerland, (preferably injury free) to get round in one piece, and to be able to walk the following day
Bucket list events: LEJOG, cycle tours of pretty much anywhere.
Any other random facts: In my first open water Triathlon I swam into a tree