Aileen among NW athletesbidding for Glasgow gold

Aileen is amongst several athletes from the North West who’ll be competing at the games, which close on Sunday (August 3).

Local competitors include wrestler Hugh McCloskey from Limavady, sprinter Jason Smyth from Eglinton, boxers Connor Coyle and Sean McGlinchey from Londonderry and middle distance runner Daniel Mooney from Letterkenny.

Speaking prior to the competition Mrs Reid spoke about the exacting demands of the sport and the big sacrifices required to make it to the top.

“Triathlon as a sport is fairly demanding. There are long hours involved in the training.

“I’m swimming six times a week, biking maybe four or five and running maybe eight times a week as well as two gym sessions,” she explained.

“You know, it’s a full time job and apart from that you have to look after yourself, pretty well, nutrition, sleep...”

She said she originally became involved in the sport after returning to live in Londonderry and joining the local club.

“The triathlon club was fun to be a part of,” she said. “We went to races here and there and stopped for ice cream on the way home.”

“It was just a nice thing to be involved in,” she added.

She believes her major strengths in the triathlon are her swimming and running but underlines that fact that you have to have a good all round game to succeed.

“I think I do have a good swim. I’m a good runner too but, I mean, triathlon’s much more than that.

“It’s much more than being fit. You have to be strong, you have to be tactically aware, you have to be able to take a punch in the face in the swim, if it happens, and swim on and if your goggles come off, you have to keep going.

“There’s no such thing as going: ‘Boohoo, can we start again?’ It’s all part of the race.”

Aileen says that despite the knocks and the long hours, it’s a pursuit she wouldn’t give up for the world.

“It’s not all glorious and sunshine and roses and rainbows and butterflies, there’s hard times, there’s blood and sweat and there’s tears and you know, there’s things that are nasty, you know, being away from home for nine months.

“You know, but it’s all part of the thing. I wouldn’t complain about those things because it’s part of the bigger picture and it’s fantastic to be able to do that for my job.

“You know, I would never swap it for anything.”

Nerves are also an omnipresent factor that she says every athlete has to deal with. But that’s normal.

“Before the race I can be very nervous, it can be very nerve wracking.

“Obviously, you’ll always have the same things every time but it’s just trying to play those things down to get used to that and the more you race the more you’re used to it,” she said.

And a big help is the camaraderie within the Northern Ireland team.

“We’re such a small nation. We really do stick together and support each other.”