Sandra Weir finished second at the World Aquathlon Championships in Spain in her first competition representing Team GB.
The Aberdeen teacher achieved a podium finish in an overall time of 39 minutes and 43 seconds, after coming first in the 5km run and third in the 1km swim in the female 40-44 years age group category.
Weir, a design and technology teacher at St Machar Academy, had been told in August that the event which had been rescheduled for September 2021 after last year’s postponement, was going to be cancelled again.
However, with four weeks’ notice she was told that the championships would be going ahead in Spain this October.
The race was truly on as Weir, 41, adapted her triathlon training programme to prepare for the Aquathlon World Championships.
Weir trained six days a week, phasing out her cycling sessions to prioritise swimming and running. She would replicate the aquathlon by swimming lengths at Aberdeen Sport Village before going for a run at the sports complex.
Weir’s training clearly paid off as she secured a silver medal, but she was unaware of how well she had competed after experiencing obstacles throughout both legs of the race.
She explained: “In the World Championships, all of the women set off at the same time so there was 80 women setting off from the pontoon at once and it created a sort of funnel effect and you can’t really see what’s going on.
“It was quite hectic, but luckily I’m a strong swimmer because if not it could have been a bit of a mess. I had people swimming over me so I took myself off it and focused on the line I wanted to go.
“I took myself away from the crowd which people tell you not to do, but I thought I’m losing time here from stopping and starting amongst the mass crowd of swimmers.
“During my run my watch wasn’t working so I couldn’t follow my game plan because I had no idea what my pace was. I just tried to overtake woman after woman to try and set a pace and luckily it worked.”
The silver medalist exceeded her own expectations having gone into the race with the hope of a top ten finish.
Weir is still in disbelief at what she has achieved, as she said: “It was my first ever Team GB race so I thought I’d aim for the top ten and get the experience which I can use for future races.
“Never in a million years did I think I would be on the podium. It was at the finish line when one of my Team GB teammates told me that I had finished second and I couldn’t believe it.
“Being back at school and talking about it with the kids in my class, I find myself saying ‘I’m second fastest in the world’ which still hasn’t properly sunk in.”
Weir’s attention is now set on preparing for next year’s European Aquathlon Championships and the world triathlon sprint event in Bermuda.
Throughout training and competing she receives the amazing support of Escone Solutions who help fund her supply of training gels, drinks and trainers.
However, Weir is actively looking for further sponsorship opportunities to help fund a swim coach and mandatory kit that she needs to compete with Team GB.
To support Weir you can find her on Instagram, or donate to her GoFundMe.
