World Quadrathlon championships - here we come

Ok, not as a competitor, but I'll be there to experience the race vicariously through my daughter who hopes to compete in the youth division. After so many years away from triathlon races, it seems strange to be getting the road bikes dusted down, digging out the wetsuits and so on, but I'm really looking forward to it.

For my daughter it is a major step on her recovery. From being on the GB Development squad for canoeing, she has had to watch everyone else make progress, while she suffered the debilitating effects of glandular fever. Because it was undiagnosed for so long, she tried to train through, but couldn't understand why her results weren't quite as good as they should have been. Although she still won gold and silver at the national sprints and a silver at the national marathons, that was the last time she really raced, finally getting a diagnosis in August last year. Since then she has fought the illness, given into the illness and somehow has managed to keep her school-work going (she sat her GCSEs while suffering from gf). A few weeks ago there was a glimmer of a recovery - some 15 months after contracting it - and she has gradually been back on the water coaching some talented lads at our club. She has now set her heart on competing at the quadrathlon and with her sporting pedigree (very good triathlete when she was younger, county level swimmer and international paddler) she could do very well. But to be honest, I couldn't care less where she comes, watching her re-gain her fitness and her enthusiasm for life after such a long and miserable period for her, has been fantastic.

She now has 7 weeks to get her fitness up to a level where she will feel she can at least be competitive and if she can't compete, we'll still go to support the rest of the team. This might also be the shove I need to get back running and swimming, although fitting that in around my job and all my canoe coaching, is quite a tricky job.

My daughter has also kept an account of her fight against GF - www.marthe.co.uk