On 3rd June 2016, GL1 Duty Manager Tom Parsons represented Great Britain at the ETU European Short Course Triathlon Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. Below are Tom’s words of his experience:

"Finding out I was going to Lisbon to race for GB was a massive shock, especially after being disappointed when I thought I hadn’t qualified even though it was my first attempt to qualify. It didn’t sink in until I was there and I still don’t think that it has sunk in now. It felt really odd that even in the airport complete strangers saw me in my GB kit and wanted to talk about it.

The race itself was the hardest race I have ever done. The swim was in choppy and very salty water, the bike was into the wind for half of it and the run was ridiculously hot. I am slightly disappointed in my overall performance especially my run as I normally finish much stronger than I did. But having said that it was an amazing experience. I genuinely felt emotional crossing the finish line in the arena, with crowds shouting my name, especially as my father had passed away last November and he knew how hard I trained to try to qualify and he didn’t even get to find out that I made it into GB."