Being a good sport

Camilla Morgan is the UK sales manager for Victoria Arduino and spends much of her professional life on the road, and her personal time competing in triathlons

United Baristas is starting a new series looking at the sporting hobbies people from across the coffee industry have. We want to understand why they do it, how they got involved with their chosen sport, and what motivates them.

Submit a coffee person with an interesting sporting hobby

This first interview took place between United Baristas founder Tim Ridley and Victoria Arduino sale manager Camilla Morgan over, of course, an espresso.

Tim: We’d met several times before discovering that we have a mutual interest in running, but that’s only one a third of your passion as you also swim and cycle – so why did you start racing triathlons?

Camilla: The same way I got into coffee, by accident! A random conversation with a friend ended up in me agreeing to do a sprint triathlon as a challenge, that’s 400m pool swim, 20 km cycle and 5 km run.

At this point I knew how to breast stroke in a pool, I had a bike and I could run 5km – so I though ‘how hard can it be?’ Well it was very hard, but I loved it. I signed up to learn how to front crawl swim (freestyle) that very same day. I knew I was going to race again –  and I have, many times since! 

TR: How often do you train?

CM: I’m currently training to complete a long course triathlon so the training hours are quite high, but I started training four or five hours per week for the sprint course, and now it’s more like ten to 15. It’s a choice, I only watch telly if I sit on an indoor bike trainer, I get up hours before people’s alarm clock rings to complete my training, and at the weekend I fit in the longer sessions. It can be a tough choice, but it’s worth it and I enjoy it. 

TR: What do you get out of it?

CM: Self discipline and the physical reward of feeling fit and healthy. 

TR: What does it bring to your job?

CM: Time management is essential and I bring this skill to work too. Also, the fitter my body is, the sharper my mind works. It just makes sense. 

TR: Just how fast are you?

CM: Ha! Faster than people who chooses to sit on their sofa that’s for sure. If you compare me to the people in the sport I’m ok, I usually finish in the top half, however, it’s about completing, not competing for me.