Athlone Tri Club member gears up for European challenge
Athlone Triathlon Club member Josh Schnell is preparing to represent Ireland at the European Triathlon Championships in Vichy, France on September 22. Josh is a student at Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Athlone, and this will be his first international race. He will compete in the 20-24 age group at the standard distance.
A native of Cushendall in Antrim, Josh has played hurling for the Ruairí Óg club and for the Antrim minor team. Here, Josh answers a few questions about his progress in the sport of triathlon and the challenge of competing in the European Championships.
Q: How were you selected for the European Championships?
A: After my results through duathlon and finishing first in my age group in Clonmel, I applied and was accepted.
Q: What’s involved in preparing for this event?
A: A lot of sacrifices and dedication, some weeks training up to 16 hours, trying to maintain the speed I have for sprint distances while increasing training volume.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge you face in the lead up?
A: I think the biggest challenge is trying to prepare for racing abroad in a different climate. I’ve never been good at performing in the heat so I’m trying to take on more electrolytes in training and prepare a nutrition plan for race day that will ensure I don’t cramp.
Q: What are you most worried about?
A: I’m not overly worried about anything. I think I’m in a good training block and doing everything I can to prepare; nutrition will be the main concern and trying to stay cool in the hotter conditions.
Q: What are you most looking forward to?
A: I think it will be a great experience racing with the best age groupers, racing some lads three or four years older than me with more experience and learning from that, seeing how I compare to the best and using it to become stronger for the future.
Q: Do you feel pressure to perform and how do you plan to deal with that between now and the event?
A:I don’t feel much pressure, my club, friends and family are all extremely supportive and understand the challenge ahead. I have set high targets from myself but I believe they are achievable with the right focus and discipline in training.
Q: What’s the ultimate dream coming out of this race?
A:The goal is to get as much experience as possible and to be able to use this to improve and perform better in the future. Hopefully this race is my first international race of many and I have aspirations to one day be on the elite squad.
Q: What’s your biggest inspiration and our biggest motivation - the thing that drives you on to do your best?
A: Definitely my family, my dad has always been involved coming to all of my races and I've always talked through training sessions with him. My family are extremely supportive and I think knowing I have them with me is what motivates me to perform.
Q: Sum up what this experience means to you.
A: This is very important to me as my first international race. I hope this is just the start and that I can build on this and race in bigger events in the future