Modern Pentathlete Mhairi Spence
Mhairi Spence is the rising star of Modern Pentathlon. In one sensational month in the summer of 2006, the 21-year-old from Inverness won European gold as a senior and then silver at the World Junior Championships in China. Now she hopes to return there in Olympic year after crowning her season with a team silver and 12th place in the individual competition at the World Championships in Guatemala.
"To start with, competing in London in 2012 was my benchmark. I remember the day of the 2012 vote in Singapore. We were at the airport on the way to a World Cup event, and had been through a lot of hassle at check in. Suddenly, we saw the announcement on TV. All those people were on the screen, screaming. I just thought ‘Oh, my god.’ Competing in London, at a home Games, will be just so cool. My aim is to be there, at my peak, on the top of the podium.”
But Spence has a real chance of qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games next year:
“It scares me to think about it. I almost want it too much. We get such fantastic support, through the lottery, that we have a great opportunity to perform well. Obviously, if I make it to Beijing, it is going to be the achievement of a lifetime’s ambition. What will I do? How will I react? All I know is that if I don’t make it, it will be such a big deal. At the moment I can’t say “when “, only “if”,” she says.
Spence started riding age three and was competing in tetrathlons from the age of eight. On her 16th birthday she entered the British Youth Fencing Championship having only fenced for four weeks:
“I won it, and Istvan, our coach, suggested I take up pentathlon. I played at it for a while before deciding to give it a go, she says.
With few facilities for the sport in her native Scotland Spence was forced to travel south to compete.
"It is not a cheap sport, especially living in Scotland and having to travel such long distances. We barely have any facilities for the sport in Scotland . It is only just starting so I hope that I can show that distance doesn’t have to be a barrier. It was a bit scary, leaving home to train and study, but things have gone well," she says.
She's now studying for a degree in Sports Performance at Bath University and combines her studies with training. She's been allowed to defer part of her degree until next year.
"The University has been very flexible and so have my coaches Jan(Bartu) and Istvan(Nemeth) , but it does get tough towards the end of each term," she says.
Her rapid progress in her sport means she trains alongside Olympic bronze medallist Georgina Harland.
"I always think of Georgie as amazing and for people to consider me at her level is always a big thing. I always looked up to her, now we are standing shoulder to shoulder," she says.
As a fencer Mhairi made significant progress in 2006 winning a bronze medal in Epee at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships, "I took to fencing surprisingly well. When I started I wasn't very good but now I consider it as one of my strengths."
She still wants to improve her running, "I know I'll never be a Georgina Harland or Kate Allenby," she admits. "I used to do cross country, but I’m not really built to run 3 kilometres really quickly. That puts a lot of pressure on me, and is an area I am putting a lot of work into. I'd just like to get to a standard where I am able to hold my place," she says.
A proud member of the British team, Mhairi also wears the Scottish saltire alongside the Union flag on her fencing uniform. Her mum is a kilt maker, "there has been talk of making me a kilt but nothing has come of it just yet!"
Mhairi Spence is competing in the World Cup at Millfield School from 12th-15th April 2007.