Episode 11 Multisport Agegrouper, Alpaca Farmer, Dancer & Bronze ETU Medalist Jo Parker

Send us Fan MailAt school She hated games. She says she had flat feet and although not diagnosed asthma, so exercises hurt her feet and her chest. The only exercises she liked was dancing and so it stayed most of her working life with a weekly but was never that good. Jo did do a bit of cycling as she lived in Oxford and even completed the London to Brighton bike ride, spending a whole day pedalling sedately between cake stops.A friend at a company she moved to in 2000 at the age of 46 suggested they go for a jog along the river tow path in Egham after work. She knew that Jo cycled so coaxed her Into having a go at triathlons.  Not being much of a swimmer, Jo took lessons and agreed to have a go at the Hart sprint triathlon. She says it took her weeks before she could manage a length of crawl and she hated putting my head under water and wearing goggles. Jo joined a gym, a trainer gave her exercises to build up her strength and she went to some spinning classes (that was a shock to the system!). Jo did her first race on her dutch shopping bike having removed the stand and basket but not the heavy integral lock. Jo states her friend Jill was shouting at her to get a move on as she dried herself in transition  but she did pass a couple of people as she pedalled as hard as she could round the course. The run was incredibly tough but a lovely course and everyone who passed her  (and there were a lot of them!) shouted encouragement and wonder of wonders everyone had not packed up and gone home by the time she finished - they cheered her loudly and she thought wow. she was hooked.Jo had a go at more races, She bought a proper bike, eventually managed several lengths of crawl although it was a year before she did a whole race. She joined a club and made friends. Her fitness gradually improved but the path to improvement was not smooth - in 2006 she developed planatafasciitis in both feet, in 2009 she broke her ankle falling down a pothole in Madagascar. However in 2011 she entered a race and realised that if she had put her name down she would have qualified for the European Champs. The next year she had a go and in 2013 she was part of the GB team which went to Alanya. Since then she has continued to train hard and has competed in more European and World Championships but she  does seem to be accident prone. After Alanya she ruptured her cruciate ligament water skiing and had to have an operation to restructure her knee. She still made it to the European Champs in Kitzbuhel in 2014 and got round in spite of viscious gradients on the bike and run. Jo was regaining fitness well and just about to compete in the first race of 2017 when an alpaca fell on her and she broke two ribs. At the age of 62 things didn't repair quite as well as they used to but she  still competed in Glasgow at the European champs the same year, although several people in the 70 plus age group beat her!. Jo's list of accidents sadly continued and in 2019 when she broke her ankle again, this time turning her foot when running in the local country park just before the start of the season. Jo cycled to the X ray dept but was told not to cycle back and was given an inflatable boot. Thankfully she could start training in time to build her run up to compete in the European Champs in Kazan and took away a bronze medal. Sadly Malmo will not be happening but she has worked on building her core strength. Jo is fighting time with an arthritic hip and worn facet joints but the break from racing has meant she can focus on technique and strength so here's to 2021 and beyond.Support the show