Battling the big guns in my first senior triathlon season

 
By Jonathan Brownlee

Garmin has recently become kit sponsor to Jonny Brownlee, up-and-coming triathlete, former Junior World Champion and brother of World Champion Alistair.

Blog writing is new to me, so bear with me! I am very pleased to be sponsored by Garmin, whose products can enhance my training greatly.

This year is a very different year for me. I can no longer call myself a junior; I am now a ‘big-boy’ in the senior ranks! I was very pleased to start the season after the long and hard Yorkshire winter. My first race was the French Grand Prix in Dunkurque. I always love racing for my French team, Sartrouville. I have a good relationship with the coaching staff and the athletes in the team. The race went very well for me and I won!

This was my first senior victory. I did not have much time to celebrate it though. Within one hour of the race finish I was in my Dad’s car driving home. The long journey home was spent revising for my exams (I am studying History at Leeds University).

After my victory in the French GP I was very excited about the World Series race in Madrid. However, the race did not go as I would have liked. I suffered in the heat and with the distance. After the race in Madrid, I could not wait to race again. Luckily, I raced another French Grand Prix the following week and won again!

The next goal of the season was the European Champs in Athlone, Ireland. This was my first senior championships. Before the race, the GB team went on a ten-day training camp in Rio Maior in Portugal. We did a lot of hard training as a group. It was good fun to train with Will Clarke, Adam Bowden, Phil Graves and Olly Freeman and each day the weather was hot with blue skies. After ten days of quality training we flew to Athlone for the Championships. In the race we each had a role to fulfil to help the team win a medal. The swim was very hard. As I exited the water, I realised I was in a small group of five off the front. I knew that it was going to be a hard day for me! I worked hard on the bike to help my brother Alistair. The bike was really hard and I paid for it on the run! It was very good fun to race in a senior championship.

I write this blog about half-way through my season. I raced the Paris French Grand Prix this weekend (18th July). This race is new on the calendar and took place in the centre of Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower. I had a great race and came 2nd place overall, about five seconds behind my brother (it doesn’t matter how much I improve, he keeps getting better!). After the race we went to see the sights of Paris. I met up with my Sartrouville team mate and ‘rival’ from my junior days, Mario Mola. We hired some bikes and saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees. We don’t often have the opportunity to see the cities that we race in, so this was great fun.

This weekend I will compete in the London World Series race in Hyde Park. This is a massive event for all the Brits. We don’t have many opportunities to race in front of a home crowd so it should be a great experience. After my race in Paris I am very excited. I just want to compete as best as I can and get as close to the front as possible! I travel down on the train to London tomorrow so I had better go and pack!

Jonny Brownlee is taking part in the London World Series race this weekend alongside other Garmin kit-sponsored triathletes Alistair Brownlee, Tim Don and Hollie Avil.