RACHEL Bown’s emotional turn at last weekend’s European Triathlon Championships in Geneva has convinced her to carry on competing at international level .

The 44-year-old, from Trowbridge, completed the sprint distance race in Switzerland in 1:38:29, finishing 29th in the 45-49 age group, her performance coming just over a year since she was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour.

Bown, a PE teacher at Larkrise Special School, also captained the Great Britain team and with qualification for next year’s Europeans all-but-secured, the Wiltshire triathlete is keen to continue.

“Usually, when I hear the start gun, I want to kill everybody but I just felt calmness and no competitiveness at all,” said Bown.

“I ran the race smiling and waving and it was the best hour-and-a-half of my life. I thought about everything that had happened in the last year and then I stopped to give my partner Tim (Peace) a kiss, which I would never normally do.

“I think that I’m going to qualify for next year’s Europeans in Lisbon and next year’s worlds are in Mexico, which is somewhere I’d love to go.

“I’m not going to stop. I’ve realised that it’s about all the people you meet along the way. We even met some new friends in Geneva and they’re going to be part of the memory of last weekend now.”

l HOT Chilli Triathlon Club’s Tom Paget (12:13:52), Sean Bosworth (12:21:29), Ben Blackwall (12:36:58) and David Stiles (12:38:13) completed a 2.5-mile open water swim, 112-mile ride and 26.2-mile marathon at Sunday’s Ironman UK in Bolton.

Bill Fryer was fourth male overall and vet40 winner in the 5km race at the Frome half-marathon, 10k and 5k event whilst Lysa Fairhurst was fourth overall lady and first vet40 lady in the 10k. Mark Blake was third in the male vet40 category as 16 other Hot Chilli members took part in the Frome Road Races.