Catriona Morrison wins world duathlon title for fourth time

Sep 9 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THERE aren’t many athletes who use gold medals as a hanging basket for plants but then, after becoming Duathlon World Champion for a fourth time, Catriona Morrison has to find some way of storing her vast collection of gongs.

The Broxburn duathlete was back on home soil last weekend for the 2010 GE Edinburgh ITU Duathlon World Championships where, cheered on by her friends and family, including hubby Richard, she added yet another honour to her impressive medal collection, which must rank her as one of Scotland’s most successful ever athletes.

Morrison’s fourth world title follows on from her long distance successes in 2007 and 2008, and victory over the standard distance back in 2006.

In the weekend’s race, a gruelling seven-lap course around Arthur’s Seat on the bike and two runs, Morrison was never out of the leading pack and, when it came down to a battle between herself and French athlete Sandra Levenez, she deployed a cunning strategy to save her energy for the final push.

Morrison, who admits to making full use of her collection of medals by turning them into mobile hanging baskets for her plants, explained: “The course was one of the toughest I’ve ever raced. Most courses have either a tough bike course or a tough run — Edinburgh had both.

“I started well and managed to stay in the first pack of runners over the first 10k before then managing to push the bike ride until there was only two of us left at the front.

“But I had to slow and almost stop during the bike ride at one stage.

“In the Tour De France, you will notice the riders all ride in a peleton.

“This is where the strongest team goes to the front and does a bit of work before peeling off again.

“If you sit directly behind someone on the bike, you are using a lot less energy than the lead rider.

“So Sandra had been sitting behind me, sucking my wheel as they say, for about four laps until I thought: ’I’ve got to do something’.

“Sandra needed to go to the front and do some work into that headwind but the only way I could get her to do it was by almost stopping completely.

“I made her ride the whole last lap as I wanted to make sure her legs were as tired as mine before the last run.

“In the end, I won by around 17 seconds, although that would have been more had I not incurred a 15-second penalty after the bike.

“It was my first ever penalty but one which was my own fault as I threw myself too far over the dismount line.

“I was just going too fast and that meant I had to sit in the penalty box, which was almost like being sent to the headmasters office.

“I had made about 10 seconds on her but of course she went by me when I was in the box but I caught her up immediately.

“I was worried I’d not had long enough running to get myself back up to full fitness and if I’m honest I don’t feel like I’m fully fit yet.

“But because of the severity of that course, I knew my biking would pull me through.”

Morrison powered her way across the finishing line in front of a partisan home crowd with a stunning time of 2hrs 2mins and 48secs.

And the West Lothian wonder admits this triumph, on home soil and with so many loved ones there to cheer her on, was sweeter than any of her other titles.

“It was great to win a race with my husband, my parents, my nephews and all my friends there to cheer me along,” she said.

“Apparently there was a roar everytime I passed them, which they say was pretty cool.

“Because of this, I think this win is a little bit more special than the others. It is not usual for all your friends and family to be there and, 90 per cent of the time, I race on my own, so this was nice.”

Morrison’s latest triumph is even more remarkable considering she has had some injury problems this season.

Her title adds to an amazing list of honours, which include Long distance duathlon champion 2007 and 2008, European Duathlon Champion 2009 and 2007, Ironman Lanzarote winner 2010 — which she won despite an enforced 45-minute pit-stop to fix a broken bicycle chain, and a two-time Commonwealth Games representative.

She is fiercely proud of her successes and she makes use of all of her medals in innovative ways.

“I may be heading towards being one of Scotland’s most successful athletes but I am maybe Scotland’s most successful athlete in a small sport,” she modestly says.

“I don’t think about things like that too much and tend to just move from event to event really.

“My medals and things are scattered all over the house. Some are on display in my cabinet but a lot of my medals I’ve made into a mobile for my plants in my hanging baskets.”

Now 31 years old, it would be safe to assume that, after all of her successes, Morrison has little left to prove, however, retirement is not on the agenda. Instead she is looking to Hawaii, where she will take part in an Ironman competition.

“I began to realise early on it wasn’t necessarily the fastest person who won the race, it was the one who persevered the most, and that has been my mantra since the beginning,” she added.

“I’ve always said that I want to keep competing until I feel I’ve reached my potential and I don’t feel I’ve reached it yet.

“I have this niggling feeling that I’ll be still competing when I’m 88.”

For more information on Catriona, visit her website: www.catmorrison.com.