The 27th May was the day of my most important race for this season; the European Triathlon Championships. This year they were taking place in Lisbon, Portugal and it consisted of a 750m swim, 20k bike and 5k run
I flew out on Wednesday afternoon (raceday is Friday) following an AS maths exam in the morning. Everything went perfectly on our travels until we arrived at baggage reclaim. Every athletes' worst nightmare is for one's luggage not to turn up, which was exactly what happened. Fortunately my bike box made it but my checked in bag with my Trisuit and full race gear did not. With my race in 36 hours, it triggered an onslaught of thoughts about how to resolve the situation, Will someone have a spare trisuit? Helmet? Could I buy some running shoes? Cleats?........Thankfully non of this was necessary as at 1AM there was a knock at our apartment and a Portuguese delivery man handed me my case, relief is an understatement!
Thursday was quite busy, full of typical pre-race admin: registration, race briefing, bike racking and multiple route recces. The bike recce was especially memorable, 1000 European triathletes on a closed coastal Portuguese dual-carriageway and a police escort. It is unlikely I will experience anything similar again unless I have a change of sport, become a pro-cyclist and race the Vuelta a Espana......unlikely. The swim recce also went well, I was feeling fit, fast and fresh, things were looking good for the race in just 18 hours. We finished the day with a trip to Lisbon old town for dinner, pasta of course, and then back to our apartment for an early night.
I flew out on Wednesday afternoon (raceday is Friday) following an AS maths exam in the morning. Everything went perfectly on our travels until we arrived at baggage reclaim. Every athletes' worst nightmare is for one's luggage not to turn up, which was exactly what happened. Fortunately my bike box made it but my checked in bag with my Trisuit and full race gear did not. With my race in 36 hours, it triggered an onslaught of thoughts about how to resolve the situation, Will someone have a spare trisuit? Helmet? Could I buy some running shoes? Cleats?........Thankfully non of this was necessary as at 1AM there was a knock at our apartment and a Portuguese delivery man handed me my case, relief is an understatement!
Thursday was quite busy, full of typical pre-race admin: registration, race briefing, bike racking and multiple route recces. The bike recce was especially memorable, 1000 European triathletes on a closed coastal Portuguese dual-carriageway and a police escort. It is unlikely I will experience anything similar again unless I have a change of sport, become a pro-cyclist and race the Vuelta a Espana......unlikely. The swim recce also went well, I was feeling fit, fast and fresh, things were looking good for the race in just 18 hours. We finished the day with a trip to Lisbon old town for dinner, pasta of course, and then back to our apartment for an early night.
Lisbon marina swim recce
RACE DAY
My race was at 11AM which is the perfect time as there is no need to wake up at a ridiculous time in the morning and fueling is simple as all you need is a decent breakfast. I was at the event site by 8:30am to give me plenty of time to set up my transition, this extra time proved crucial as I struggled to pump up my rear tyre due to a loose valve extender and an air lock. As a result I was left running round transition trying to find the correct tools to fix the issue, I was unsuccessful in my quest. My Bear Grylls instinct then kicked in, I borrowed (stole) a Biro from a race organiser, snapped the pen to get the ink cartridge out and used that to stick into the valve extender and release the airlock. Panic averted. Everything else went smoothly and I was in my wetsuit at 10:40 to go into my pen and wait until we were allowed to enter the water. During the wait all competitors try to maintain some blood circulation through swinging arms, hitting yourself, jumping etc. however despite one's best efforts it is inevitable that you cool down waiting after your warm up which only makes the hectic swim start more painful!
Finally the clock struck 11, we entered the water and very quickly we were off. My wave comprised of people ages 16-30 so the start was typically aggressive with testosterone and adrenaline fuelled racing. 100m into the swim someone's limb (not sure if arm of leg) struck my face and my goggles were knocked off my face, I attempted to continue swimming but it was futile, I was blind and I would have ended up swimming out to sea. I had no option but to stop and put them back on. Once restarted I had clear water and I was able to put the hammer down and claw back some time. I exited the swim in somewhat disappointing 35th place and was left with lots of work to do. Down but not out.
My race was at 11AM which is the perfect time as there is no need to wake up at a ridiculous time in the morning and fueling is simple as all you need is a decent breakfast. I was at the event site by 8:30am to give me plenty of time to set up my transition, this extra time proved crucial as I struggled to pump up my rear tyre due to a loose valve extender and an air lock. As a result I was left running round transition trying to find the correct tools to fix the issue, I was unsuccessful in my quest. My Bear Grylls instinct then kicked in, I borrowed (stole) a Biro from a race organiser, snapped the pen to get the ink cartridge out and used that to stick into the valve extender and release the airlock. Panic averted. Everything else went smoothly and I was in my wetsuit at 10:40 to go into my pen and wait until we were allowed to enter the water. During the wait all competitors try to maintain some blood circulation through swinging arms, hitting yourself, jumping etc. however despite one's best efforts it is inevitable that you cool down waiting after your warm up which only makes the hectic swim start more painful!
Finally the clock struck 11, we entered the water and very quickly we were off. My wave comprised of people ages 16-30 so the start was typically aggressive with testosterone and adrenaline fuelled racing. 100m into the swim someone's limb (not sure if arm of leg) struck my face and my goggles were knocked off my face, I attempted to continue swimming but it was futile, I was blind and I would have ended up swimming out to sea. I had no option but to stop and put them back on. Once restarted I had clear water and I was able to put the hammer down and claw back some time. I exited the swim in somewhat disappointing 35th place and was left with lots of work to do. Down but not out.
I went through transition cleanly with no holdups and I was ready to start the comeback, excited and focused. The bike out of transition was cobbled with a sequence of speed bumps which caused my rubber bands, holding my shoes in place, to snap. In my haste to try and force my right foot into the dangling shoe I managed to disconnect the strap of the shoe from the buckle, despite attempting to fix it numerous times whilst riding, my efforts were unsuccessful. I had a choice, stop, fix the shoe and lose 30 seconds or say screw it and carry on with my right shoe undone. I chose the latter. The rest of the bike was relatively uneventful, I simply put my head down and cracked on, picking competitors off 1 by 1. By the end of the bike I had made up 27 places from exiting the water putting me up to around 8th place overall. on the return of the out and back bike course we had the pleasure of a headwind to deal with resulting in very heavy lactic legs jumping off the bike and heading into T2. I must admit I very nearly stacked it when dismounting.
Transition after a tough bike is always interesting, with little blood in the brain due to the dramatic change in position from horizontal to vertical causing disorientation making even the simplest of tasks a complex ordeal. I made my way through T2 and was out on the run when the bike effort really hit me, I felt awful. The first 1km of the run I was struggling to survive let alone try and catch the leaders who were almost 2 minutes in front. However 5 minutes in I began to adapt to running and was able to lengthen my stride, increase my cadence, pushing hard and going fast, passing 1 person, then another then another. The hunt was on. Starting the 2nd run lap I was in 3rd in U20's, I could see who I was chasing, the gap was closing second by second, metre by metre. 2 minutes went by I had taken 2nd position giving me the extra kick needed to bridge the gap to first. I took 1st and carried the momentum all the way to the finish line. European Triathlon Champion.
A huge Thank you to all those who helped me to achieve this: my coach Perry Agass, Pedal Potential and of course my parents. So we are halfway through the season and I can already call myself double European Champ, what's next I hear you ask? Firstly a nice well needed rest, then, training will resume for some new challenges yet to be confirmed but potentially very exciting!
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