English
Last week I was living the ‘High Life’… off to Monte Carlo for the World Biathle Championships. Biathle is a continuous run-swim-run event run by the Modern pentathlon Association (UIPM) – who actually have their HQ in Monaco. Its a good training vehicle for Triathlon as you get plenty of Transition practice. Following my disappointing previous qualifying race at Salford: where I had been given the ‘wild card’ entry I knew that I needed to justify the GB coaches confidence in me.
I was going to have to pick up the pace and raise my game. We flew from Luton, and were based in an apartment in the Beau Soleil district (actually just outside ‘Monaco official’ – by about 10 metres!) The area was well provided with shops and restaurants, but literally a stones’ throw from the glamour of the yachts and the Casino that the principality is so famous for.
Up until the competition I had been training hard and was feeling good. After we arrived in Monaco we had a couple of training days practising entries and exits from the sea, which was lovely and warm! (Makes a change from Weymouth!), though the Jelly fish boom had us all a little concerned – Especially knowing that it was going to be removed for the competition so that we could get to the buoys! We had one rainy day during our stay, where despite the showers it was still around 26 degrees C and not a jelly fish in sight..
Whilst the sun was shining and I still had one day until I was competing it was nice to be able to relax a bit and think about my race plan. I ran the course several times on the days before it was set up: The Run was going to be a tight start with 32 competitors in my race.
There was a hairpin bend about 100m after the start followed by a flat road run of 1k along the beach side Boulevard and back then into a 200m sea swim, followed by a repeat of the earlier 1km to finish.
The 32 people in my race was a lot compared to previous World Champs races and bearing in mind the tight hairpin turn was near the start this was surely going to be an aggressive field.
Surely enough everyone was ‘elbows-out’ on the start line. Because there were so many competitors in such a tight space I was getting forced back on to a second row, but luckily the other countries objected to this and I found myself a good position as several Spanish athletes were plucked out from beside me and reinstated right of field. I was able to muscle back into the front and got around the bend at the head of the pack. After 800m running in a rubber swimming hat I came down the slippery polished granite slope to Larvotto Beach and couldn’t wait to drive into the sea – I was absolutely boiling!
I had to be tactical in the swim as a few of the Spanish were known to be very physical, and they were especially rounding the final buoy. I had a good transition: reflecting later on other races that day athletes had been disqualified for dropping equipment – goggles, on the course (regrettably one of the GB girls) and disobeying the officials whilst accessing the transition boxes: there wasn’t any leeway or room for ignorance of the rules! Those rules were being strictly applied !
Coming out of the swim I felt strong, and powered on back up the slope onto the cool of the Princess Grace Boulevard and managed to take back 3 places, finishing 7th in the world, and 3rd in Great Britain. This was a huge improvement from the qualifier in Salford, and considering the larger field an improvement on last year. The GB coaches’ confidence in me was justified!
Things are looking up again: my next competition is ‘Olympic Hopes’ representing GB in Debrecen, Hungary 5-9 October – I can’t wait! After that the cross country season begins back home, and it’s back into the cycle of national qualifiers! Enough of this sun and sea – let’s get cold and muddy !
Happy training.
Hello,
Interesting incident . Nice to read your story ,we enjoyed a lot.
thansk for sharing.