ETU European age group championships, Alcobendas. Spain.

'Carnage.'

'Horrendous.'

'Scenes resembling a war zone.'

'Major incident.'

The above are some descriptions I have seen and heard from various other people at the event.

Firstly I'd once again like to thank Nelson Training and Charles Hinitt and Associates for their help in making this memorable trip happen.

After recce'ing both the run and bike courses on the Friday I was disappointed that the event organisers tweaked both courses the following day! However with so many turns and roundabouts I'm not sure I would've remembered it anyway.

The outdoor race venue was impressive on the eye as we approached to register on the Friday. We were all given a huge wheelie bag, and all wondered how on earth we were going to get this back to the UK! I was really pleased with the hoodie that I had previously ordered and paid for which was also at registration ready for collection!

Post registration wrapped up in my new hoodie.

Our friends,  'the Hurleys' also from Malvern tri club, were arriving late Friday and stopping at the same hotel as us. Hotel Villa. 

Some women 40-49 standard distance competitors

 Race briefing and team photos took place on Saturday morning













Saturday afternoon we calmed our nerves by doing some last minute bike checks, roundabout practice and dismount/transition practice.

Rob Hurley straightening out a roundabout at speed.

Girl talk pre race day.

RACE DAY:   It started raining very early on the morning of the race. We had an early breakfast and headed off to rack our bikes. We cycled down to the race venue in the rain. Racking didn't take long as there was no queue, neither were there enough baskets for everybody. And it was cold and raining.

Race ready??

Not enough baskets for everyone (including me)

The standard distance races started at 12 noon. My wave was the last to go at 12.30...this was women aged 40 to 69. However, everybody was called to transition at about 11.50...it was very cold, wet and windy. We were all desperately trying to keep warm by jogging around in the transition area. It was raining. The waves went off one by one, with us older women being left hanging around in transition until our start...most of us just wearing tri suits. We were freezing cold before we had even started our race.

There had been lots of warnings given out to us to ride the bike course very cautiously as the deteriorating weather conditions were making a challenging course treacherous in places. There had been some casualties in the sprint race, and the weather had worsened since then.
We were all very nervous.

Pre race nerves inside the Leisure centre at the race venue.

The first run was  laps through town which totaled just short of 10k, it was hilly with several turns. I quite liked it and thought I ran well....but found it hard to get warm. It was raining.

Uphill on the first run....at this point not knowing what was to come.

I left T1 and headed off for the bike leg which ...over the 4 laps....I'm told had 84 roundabouts! There were 96 apparently before the course was tweaked! I didn't bother counting! Part of the course was up and quite a way out of town in an exposed area. The wind was strong up there.  In a very short space of time I started to get colder. The rain was torrential. By lap 2 I saw people slowing down and stopping. I saw Lisa on route..she was also suffering from the cold. We had a quick chat but both decided to continue. Lap 3 was the worst for me. I was in tears on the exposed part of the course as the hail started to come down. I was soaked, freezing cold, and was finding it very difficult to change gear or pull on my brakes.  I had already been warned that braking was going to be tricky in the wet with my carbon rims. I had to allow plenty of time for slowing down and stopping. I very cautiously made my way back to base at the end of lap 3. You could really feel the temperature was a couple of degrees warmer down at race HQ, Lots of people had come in on this lap. I saw the air ambulance.  My partner, Ron, had helped a young female athlete, suffering early stages of hypothermia, get off her bike and ushered her inside and helped reunite  her with her mum. It was Heather Taylor, who happened to have been to Uni with my daughter. Ron was trying to get me to come in as he wondered if it really was worth me carrying on, he had seen so many casualties, people injured or suffering with hypothermia. Men were having to be helped off their bikes and taken inside to be wrapped in blankets with heat pads.
I had given up 'racing' at this point but really wanted to continue and fight on to finish the course. I have no idea why.  I was not prepared to take risks, but i was determined to carry on. This was the point that I learned that I am clearly not a risk taker, but neither am I a quitter. I told Ron I would continue...however I was fully aware that there was absolutely no shame in not continuing for whatever reason. I was still able to make a decision. Others clearly had suffered more than me and had gone beyond this.
I teetered around lap 4 and again got back to base....clearly the flying dismounts I had been practicing over and over became irrelevant! I'm not sure what happened in T2, I could not see which way to go. My mind had started to shut down I was very disorientated. I eventually saw somebody who pointed me in the right direction for the run. The rain hammered down.  I ran the 2 laps and by lap 2 I was starting to feel warmer and picked up the pace. Not a lot of point now but I just wanted this ordeal to be over. I crossed the finish line numb. In both body and mind. A man held me for a few seconds before he was sure I was ok and then pointed me in the direction of the showers. They wanted us to warm up as quickly as possible.
Glyn, Barron and Joan, the GB team managers, were in the lobby of the leisure center helping the GB athletes. Joan was great looking after all the women that had come in extremely cold and weak.
I have to say that after nearly 20 years of working as a fitness instructor at numerous leisure centres I have never seen so many naked skinny women in a steamy shower room together!
I had not taken a towel as I didn't realise showers would be an option. Ron had a filthy old tea towel that he had taken with him to wipe the bike down before we took it back into the hotel, it was covered in oil....this is what I used....I was moving very freely as I exited the showers :-)
Funnier than that was the women who also said she didn't have a towel so she said 'I'll just have to have a rub down with my wet tri suit,' which she proceeded to do....another women came out of the showers and said 'um, that's mine' !!!! At least something make me laugh.

The results were not what we had hoped for.  I finished 5th in my age group. But, I really didn't mind as I was so proud and pleased to have finished safe, with my bike still in one piece. Two women from my age group had failed to finish.

Rob and Lisa also completed the course.

We got back to the hotel as quickly as possible and got cleaned up. We all wanted a slap up dinner, but in Alcobendas on Sunday evenings its almost impossible to find anywhere open for food. I can't believe I am actually admitting to going to burger king...this in wrong on so many levels but I was desperate ! It was still raining hard. A pint and a half of beer later and I'm fine.

Cheers!

The atmosphere in our hotel that night was fantastic. A really good crowd of GB age group athletes from both the sprint and the standard all telling their own tales from the race. Real camaraderie and respect for each other.
 Amongst the group was my friend Jacqui Phillips and her husband Mark. Jacqui had picked up her 3rd Gold medal in a row for Europoean sprint distance duathlon, fantastic achievement.

With Heather.

It was also lovely to see Heather Taylor at the hotel that evening... looking a lot warmer!











When I got home I was intrigued to see how many people didn't finish the race. I was surprised to see that they were not listed on the results, but I was more surprised to see that their names had been removed from the start lists...I really felt for these people as they did start the race so therefore their names surely should be on the start lists. I would have expected them to have had splits for the parts of the course they did complete.

On the whole I had a great weekend, we met some lovely people at Hotel Villa. Ron and I had a lovely day in Madrid on Monday which included a long awaited slap up dinner for two. We also enjoyed revisiting the Terrapins at Atocha railway station !  However my overriding feeling at the moment is that of deflation. This was my 'A' race and I didn't feel as though I raced at all. I need to move on and quickly get something else booked up.

Watch this space.