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{"ID":90,"SpaceID":5,"PageID":37,"HasCommentsThread":false,"SeoTags":{"OpenGraphTags":[{"ID":"og:title","Name":"ETU Middle Distance Aquabike European Championships Menen"},{"ID":"og:type","Name":"website"},{"ID":"og:url","Name":"https://www.petersfieldtriathlonclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/NA2/ETU+Middle+Distance+Aquabike+European+Championships+Menen"}],"NonOpenGraphTags":[]},"Path":"ETU+Middle+Distance+Aquabike+European+Championships+Menen","Title":"ETU Middle Distance Aquabike European Championships Menen","Author":{"ID":4,"Name":"Fred McCaig","CompanyName":null,"HasEmail":true},"Version":1,"IsDraft":false,"IsOldVersion":false,"PublicationDate":"25/02/2024 14:13","VersionDescription":"v1 - Fred McCaig","HideHeader":false,"IsFullWidth":false,"ThemeCode":null,"BackgroundColour":"rgb(182, 47, 61)","JumpLinks":[],"Blocks":[{"Columns":[{"Width":8,"WidthClasses":"col-md-8 col-sm-12 col-xs-12","Elements":[{"ID":511,"Type":"HTML","Content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eSo you\u0027ve had a lot of intro\u0027s from me this season, well for this one I\u0027m talking about my own race for once! So join me as we head on an adventure in to the world of Aquabike at the Middle Distance European Championships in Belgium!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eMaking Lemonade Out of Lemons\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eSo believe it or not, but when we started the season this was not the plan, adventures in aquabike were not even on my radar! If it wasn’t for a few fellow coached athletes at Tri Training Harder I’m not sure I even would have known what it was… Originally the plan revolved around racing the Standard Distance European Champs in Madrid (See the previous report from Julie, Linda and Rose, to see what went down there!) before shifting focus to a late season middle distance race, continuing to push and expand that comfort zone after taking on some new challenges the year before. Unfortunately my body had other plans… An injury to my foot during the Brighton Half Marathon early in the year put paid to those plans. The body simply said no more… So this report is all about making lemonade from lemons and finding fun in the most unexpected of ways.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eFor those not in the know, Aquabike is not spinning in a swimming pool, or racing on pedalos as one of my friends thought when I first mentioned what I was doing this year! It’s triathlon, without the run! And in this case I would be racing over the middle distance (1900m swim and 90 km bike) at the European Championships in Menen. But how did we get here? Well races earlier in the year at the Huntsman, Hever Castle and Cowman enabled me to submit my times and qualify for the squad! So with that we hit the road to Belgium, arriving on Thursday afternoon, just in time for the opening ceremony. It’s here that you first begin to get a sense of the scale of the event, with over 1500 athletes competing across Triathlon, Aquathlon and Aquabike from 35 nations across Europe! Although of course as usual team GB was the largest in all three disciplines!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eWith the aquathletes racing on Friday it presented a great opportunity to scout out some of the course and cheer on the rest of team GB. Driving in to Menen from our hotel in Ypres on the course it looked to be a route of two halves, the first very straight, high speed and aero focused with a couple of dead turns at the end. The other half was almost the polar opposite, it was like a town centre crit on TT bikes… Plenty of sharp turns, bumps, holes and interesting road surfaces to deal with, and that’s before we even factor in the ever present threat in Belgium, wind… No matter where on the course you were it was open and exposed with nowhere to hide, which was obviously going to be a factor in the race. However I’d practiced my skills and went in to the race backing my bike handling to help me race fast and safe on what would be a busy course. A last piece of inspiration before race day was attending a last post ceremony at the Menen Gate. A highly moving and poignant moment that reminded us of the significance of where we were racing.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eRace day arrived and it was very much a case of what on earth do I do with myself here?! Race start was not until 1pm so I had plenty of time on my hands before the off, a very odd experience. We killed some time with breakfast in Ypres before heading across to Menen to finish off getting set up in transition. The swim was to take place in the river and I was glad for the start practice on Saturday as we ran down the steps and dived off the pontoon! Maybe a bit of a mistake as my goggles quickly filled with water and I had to stop quickly to clear them and go again. The current flowing in the river was stronger than expected, and kept the athletes together as we fought upstream to the first buoy. As we made the turn the group just seemed to stop and mayhem erupted. I must admit at this point, I just pushed on through, a “gap” appeared and I went for it, ignoring the flailing arms and legs and finally emerging in to clear water. Coming back the other way I started to try and settle in to a groove and recover from the melee before it all kicked off again for a second time. This time as we made the second turn to head back upstream, navigating our way through the slower female swimmers from the triathlon championships race who’d been set off 10 minutes ahead!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eOut of the water and back up the crazy steep steps I took off towards transition at a rate of knots… only to then have to turn round and go and collect my watch that I’d dropped back at the entrance to transition… No chance I’m risking a littering penalty for that! Flying mount completed I took off on the bike and walked straight in to the next challenge, my power meter refusing to hook up. Looks like I was riding this one by the seat of my pants then! \u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eStarting off I tried to take things sensibly through town in the technical sections and had just settled in to my aero groove when the Uber bikers started making an appearance. There was a few names I recognised coming past so I tried to stick with them, which was about when things started to unravel again… Approaching a roundabout in the tribars I tried to accelerate out and the next thing I know, I’m sliding across the tarmac with my rear tyre hanging off the rim. With the benefit of hindsight, I got too over confident, caught an inside pedal on the floor and from then on I was heading towards the deck. Actually thought I’d saved it and then felt carbon on concrete and there was no coming back from that! Pretty much as soon as I went down a marshal was with me, checking I was okay and helping move me and the bike out the road. Following a bit of swear and some time to collect myself we assessed the damage, hip was sore but nothing appeared broken so moved to the bike and fought the tyre back on to the rim to give things a go.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eFirst reactions were the hip is not happy trying to get up to speed and to check the bike was still functioning, cornering was a cautious thing now as I didn’t want to risk the tyre rolling again. But, at least once I was up to speed I could maintain it and see where we got to. The out and back section of the course was fine but the end of the lap through the technical sections and accelerating out the turns was not a fun experience. Coming through to complete lap 1 the support was amazing but I made the conscious decision not to tell my parents what had happened… what they don’t know can’t hurt them right?! Lap 2 I managed to get back in to my groove a bit more and hold the pace, but with 8km to go a rider came past with my category on their leg and I knew I was in a race again. Tried to push on to stay with them, and for a while they stayed in sight, but I just didn’t quite have the legs or head in the right place by that point. It did however keep me working right to the line and is probably what kept me on that last spot of the podium, with only 40 secs separating 2\u003csup\u003end\u003c/sup\u003e through 4\u003csup\u003eth\u003c/sup\u003e in AG at the finish! Final result Time - 2:57.24 31st Overall and 3rd M30-34!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eSo the weekend finished with a trip to the podium for the very first time at this level, and a return home with a monster new bruise! Aquabike has been a great adventure and change of pace this year, it’s taught me a lot as an athlete, mostly in mental resilience and adjusting as things happen on the fly! I’ve now pre-qualified for next year’s champs with this result and you’d better bet that I’m coming back to this distance with a vengeance and with redemption on the mind!\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 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