REID Melissa

Date of Birth: 15 Nov 1990

Age: 30

Gender: Female

Sport Class: PTVI3

Place of residence : TRURO

Residence Country:

Great Britain

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Triathlon	Women's PTVI	7

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Odaiba Marine Park	Women's PTVI	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Rank	Event	Year	Location	Result
Paralympic Games
3	PT5	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA	1:14:07
World Championships
1	Women's TRI-6b	2013	London, GBR	1:13:24
2	PTVI	2019	Lausanne, SUI	1:16:11
2	PT5	2014	Edmonton, AB, CAN	1:10:09
2	Women's TRI-6	2012	Auckland, NZL	1:03:20
3	PTVI	2017	Rotterdam, NED	1:17:05
3	PT5	2016	Rotterdam, NED	1:14:31
6	PT5	2015	Chicago, IL, USA	1:13:09
European Championships
1	PTVI	2017	Kitzbuhel, AUT	1:12:44
2	PTVI	2019	Valencia, ESP	1:13:13

Surfing, eating out at restaurants. (Facebook profile, 12 Jul 2021)

Occupation:

Athlete, Coach, Sports Teacher

Sports Science - Cornwall College, Great Britain

Languages spoken:

Sporting relatives:

Her sister Courtney-Lee Reid represented Great Britain in Para triathlon at junior level at the 2013 World Grand Final in London, England. Her father has coached at the Gyllyngvase Surf Life Saving Club in Falmouth, England. (bbc.co.uk, 26 Mar 2015; cornwalllive.com, 17 Jul 2021; triathlon.org, 20 Jun 2014)

Other sports:

She has won gold medals at both the aquathlon world championships [swim, run] and the British duathlon championships [run, bike, run]. She also competed in surf lifesaving at junior international level. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021; melissareid.org.uk, 01 Oct 2014)

2011 for Great Britain, World Championships in London, Great Britain (melissareid.org.uk, 18 Oct 2014)

She took up Para triathlon in 2011. (cornwalllive.com, 17 Jul 2021; at-your-pace.co.uk, 01 Dec 2012)

Her father had taken part in surfing, swimming and surf lifesaving, and encouraged her to try them. She began with surfing. "I had a back injury but was told I could swim or surf. It gave me a new lease of life. Surfers are the most accepting, happy group of people I've ever come across. It doesn't matter who you are when you get into the water." She later began cycling against the advice of her family doctor. "When I was younger my parents were told that I would never be able to ride a bike. My dad was adamant that I was going to ride no matter what." (britishtriathlonmedia.org, 21 Sep 2014; Instagram profile, 01 Apr 2021; theguardian.com, 02 Oct 2020)

To win a gold or silver medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021)

In the build-up to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, she spent time training in a heat chamber to prepare for the conditions in Japan. (cornwalllive.com, 17 Jul 2021)

British triathlete Chrissie Wellington. (triathloninspires.com, 01 Sep 2014)

In 2013 she was named BBC South West Para Athlete of the Year in England. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021)

In 2013 she received the Sporting Hero Award from the Pirate FM radio station in Cornwall, England. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021)

In 2012 she was named Cornwall's Young Coach of the Year. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021)

General Interest

Classification
PTVI (ITU, 25 Jun 2021)

Type of Impairment
Vision impairment (Facebook page, 23 Aug 2021; falmouthpacket.co.uk, 07 Jun 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (westbriton.co.uk, 11 Jan 2012)

Impairment Details
She was born with a visual impairment. She is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other. (Facebook page, 17 Jul 2021; westbriton.co.uk, 11 Jan 2012)

Guide
Hazel Smith (tri247.com, 22 Jun 2021; falmouthpacket.co.uk, 07 Jun 2021)

General
PREPARATION FOCUS
In 2021, she said she had focused her training on preparing for the conditions expected at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. "From 11:00 to 17:00, I'm out training doing heat prep. We just sit in a heat chamber on a bike. The idea is you get your core temperature over 38.5 degrees [Celsius], then you keep your temperature around that for one to two hours. In Tokyo, it will vary between 30-38 degrees, with 80-90% humidity. No one expected how hot Rio was going to be [during the 2016 Paralympic Games], and how it was going to affect all the athletes. In the heat chamber, you lose around two litres of fluids in sweat each hour. It feels like a hangover afterwards. Like you've had a bottle of wine without the benefits." (cornwalllive.com, 17 Jul 2021)

TRAINING IN CORNWALL
She says she enjoys training at her home in Cornwall in south-west England, despite the lack of advanced sports facilities. "Most people think you can't perform from the south-west because we don't have high-end facilities. We don't have a 50-metre pool on our doorstep, or hundreds of perfect running tracks. But what we do have is the sea, lakes, and all the paths around here. We actually have the best training venue you can get. I love it. For me, it works really well. Others want to be in that high-end facility team setting. I'd always rather be in the sea. However, public transport sucks here. If I didn't have the support network I have, I wouldn't be able to train the way I do." (cornwalllive.com, 17 Jul 2021)

COACHING WORK
She has worked as a coach at TR1 Swim Club in Cornwall, England, since 2006, and has worked as a beach lifeguard trainer with Surf Life Saving Great Britain since 2010. She has also worked as a swimming teacher for Cornwall Council since 2009. (LinkedIn profile, 01 Mar 2021; melissareid.org.uk, 18 Oct 2014)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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