In September 2021, I entered a Strava competition where you had to clock up 500 minutes of exercise over 3 weeks to get a chance of being part of a team put together by Wiggle and Hoka. Since that only works out as 8 and a bit hours, it wasn't particularly tricky and so I entered and made a video detailing why I would be an awesome addition to the team.
Amazingly, they thought my entry wasn't total rubbish, and so I had an interview.
In the interview, I did mention the possibility of a trip across the Pacific that might not be particularly conducive to training but that didn't put the guys off and so there I was, part of a newbie team of triathletes!
In October, the 4 competition winners were invited down to Wiggle HQ in Portsmouth where we met the other team members and the organising comittee. We were fitted with a frankly ludicrous amount of kit (from carbon running shoes to fleece-lined cycle bibs from the amazing dhb). It turns out that I have been wearing far too big cycle gear for about 10 years! When the people who actually designed the kit did a fit, they explained that jerseys aren't supposed to fit when you're standing up. It's all about how they fit when you're actually on the bike. Mind. Blown.
We met the coaches by zoom and had a run with the incredibly friendly Joe Skipper.