2023 IRONMAN World Champion, Lucy Charles-Barclay, is one of the big names hoping to take the Singapore T100 crown away from defending champion, Ashleigh Gentle.
After a strong second in the Miami heat, LCB returns to what could be even more challenging conditions for the second race of the T100 series.
On the ground here in Singapore, I sat down with the London-based Brit to ask about her specific prep for this race, the prospects of taking on Gentle for the first time this year – and her wildcard pick for an athlete that could upset the form book.
Home comforts? Not quite…
The Charles-Barclay ‘pain cave’ in East London might seem an unlikely location to prep for the climate of Singapore, but with a proven history, it’s where she’s undertaken her training block for a race which could be even hotter than the challenges presented last time out in Florida. She explained what she’s been up to since then:
“Yeah, I feel like Miami was quite a good warm-up for this race. I knew that it was never going to be as hot and humid as here, but it’s like a stepping stone.
“Once I got home form Miami, I basically went into a heat block. So, training indoors in the UK, trying to just make it as hot and humid as possible, kind of managing my core temperature to make sure it was getting high enough and then keeping it within a controlled range. I was using a lot of sauna time, hot baths – nothing that pleasant – so I feel like that it has worked well for me so far. It’s always worked well for Hawaii, doing my training at home; I trained at home in London for Kona last year and it worked pretty well.
“I’m just hoping that’s going to pay off, but you never know until you get into the real conditions on race day and you are pushing that bit harder just how tough it is going to get.”
Queens collide?!
Always a competitor, Lucy – the current IRONMAN World Champion – is relishing the first opportunity this year to go head-to-head with the ‘Queen of the 100k’, Ashleigh Gentle.
“It’s definitely motivating to race Ashleigh, she was certainly missed in Miami. This will be her first race of the season and so we don’t know where her form is at, but I’d expect it to be pretty good.
“She’s coming from the Australian summer so the climate shouldn’t affect her, I think she always does well in these conditions. It’s definitely a good benchmark for this second event of the season, and so I just hope I can give her a good race.”
“Anybody can have their day”
I asked Lucy who she thought could potentially spring a surprise this weekend, impact the race dynamic or potentially secure a surprise podium spot.
“I think anyone can do that. We saw in Miami that India Lee was kind of under the radar before that race and then came and took the win. We are looking at the top-20 women in the world and anybody can have their day, so I don’t think you can write anybody off.
“I think Marjolaine [Pierré] will be a good factor because she’s been training in the heat and she’s such a strong runner as well – I love her as well, I think she’s great! So if she has a good race, I’ll be super happy for her, but I think the win could come from anywhere.”
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