Shona wins Euro silver

May 22 2008 By Andy McGilvray

TRIATHLETE Shona Forrest fulfilled a lifelong dream by winning a silver medal at the European Championships in Lisbon and immediately set her sights on World Championship glory.

Shona (38), was thrilled to finish second at the European Age-Group Championships on Sunday, and burst into tears at the end of the race.

Now she is looking to collect another major prize at the World Championships in Australia next September.

Shona, who recently moved from Rosebank to live in Bellshill with her boyfriend Jim, has been competing in triathlons for just over two years.

She said: “I was second in the 35-39 age group, and I was delighted.

“I’ve worked for this for almost my whole life — since I was eight-years-old.

“All I’ve ever wanted to do was win a medal in a major championships, but now I want to win a medal at the World Championships next year.

“I’ve qualified for the 2009 European Championships in Holland, but I still need to qualify for the World Championships and to achieve that I need to finish in the top three at the British Open Championships events at Strathclyde Park and Bedford next year.”

Shona was confident of success in Portugal and was well prepared for the event.

She said: “I went wanting to win a medal, and I thought I could, but it’s all about what happens on the day.

“I knew I was going really well in training, so I knew I had as good a chance as anybody.

“I started my winter training at the beginning of October, so that carried me through.”

With her mum, dad and boyfriend Jim behind her, Shona was able to discover exactly what position she was in during the gruelling race.

She said: “I had a really strong swim, a fantastic bike, and my run was just gruelling.

“I burst into tears when I crossed the line.

“I didn’t want to take my medal off my neck, and I’ve had it in my pocket since, showing it to everybody.”

Shona added: “Everybody was delighted for me and both the bike and the run were in loops, so my dad and boyfriend were running all over the course, shouting at me to tell me how far first was in front, and how close behind me the third-placed runner was.

“That was great, because I knew where I was in the race — third was only 17 seconds behind me, so there wasn’t much in it.”

Shona will compete at the British Sprint Championships at Strathclyde Park on Sunday, and has several other events lined up for 2008.

She said: “The British Sprint Championships will be good, as I have all my home support there — all my friends are coming along to see me.

“I’ve also been invited to a lot of Elite races in England, so I’m going to concentrate on doing that this year and see how far I can go with that.”