Karen Darke | Athlete | Speaker | Author

Last week was a mad one for travelling and sport.

The 15th August was the London World Triathlon Championships, where bizarrely given my minimal experience of triathlon, I was asked to go and compete for Britain…apparently my one half-iron-man effort in Scotland two summers ago qualified me for an entry! It was a bit of a showcase event for Paratriathlon as a sport – that means a range of disabilities such as wheelchair users, amputees and those visually impaired - and the largest race ever held in Europe with 42 competitors from 7 countries. It was centred in Hyde Park, and involved a 300m swim in the Serpentine Lake (I tried not to swallow but failed badly), a 10km cycle (using a hand-bike) and a 3.3km run (for ‘wheelies’ that means pushing a racing wheelchair).

The event was watched by Olympic representatives looking to include Paratriahlon into 2016. Despite swallowing a lot of murky water, it was great fun & I somehow managed to win a Gold medal for the wheelchair women’s section (though there were only 2 of us!), but most fun of all was watching Andy’s kids Ella (10) and Ewen (7) getting interviewed for TV about what it was like to be there. More info at www.britishtriathlon.org

Then it was off to Hungary for the World Orienteering Championships. I was one of six in the British ‘Trail Orienteering’ team, that is an adaption of orienteering for anyone who can’t run through the forest: it’s not a race, more of a mental challenge reading maps and problem solving, sort of like suduko in the forest. With thirty five degrees, and two of the courses around a zoo, it was an interesting week.

I was 8th in the Paralympic class, and our team were 8th overall: it’s hard to beat the Scandinavians where orienteering is more popular than football in the UK! For more info see www.woc2009.hu; www.trailo.org and www.orienteering.org and follow links to Trail O. The British team are always on the look out for new recruits, and you don’t have to have a disability to take part.

Next on the whirlwind week of sport was a day in Preston with British Cycling. They’re looking for a hand-cycle development squad to work with over the next year, in the build up to 2012. The day involved physiological testing i.e. torture on a handcycle with a power meter attached, some explosive power tests, a time trial on the track and some racing around a bike circuit.

I was the weakest and the slowest (consoled by the fact I was the only female there as Rachel Morris, Beijing gold medalist is busy training for the forthcoming World Champs in Italy). Anyway we’ll find out in mid-September whether we’ve made the squad…