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{"ID":91,"SpaceID":5,"PageID":38,"HasCommentsThread":false,"SeoTags":{"OpenGraphTags":[{"ID":"og:title","Name":"European Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships - Madrid"},{"ID":"og:type","Name":"website"},{"ID":"og:url","Name":"https://www.petersfieldtriathlonclub.co.uk/Cms/Spaces/NA2/European+Sprint+Distance+Triathlon+Championships++Madrid"}],"NonOpenGraphTags":[]},"Path":"European+Sprint+Distance+Triathlon+Championships++Madrid","Title":"European Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships - Madrid","Author":{"ID":4,"Name":"Fred McCaig","CompanyName":null,"HasEmail":true},"Version":1,"IsDraft":false,"IsOldVersion":false,"PublicationDate":"25/02/2024 14:14","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":515,"Type":"HTML","Content":"\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eFive of us set off for Madrid: Linda and David Robbins, Rose Beddington, Leighton Jones and me. The race was on the Sunday when the weather forecast indicated cool and overcast conditions – perfect for racing. But on the Thursday evening the heavens opened and there was torrential rain – as only Spain can manage. The swim was to be in a lake just west of the city, followed by a bike leg around a large park area finishing in front of the Royal Palace, and then a rather winding 5k run with the finish back in front of the Royal Palace. The observant among you will realise that this meant we had a split transition – so we had to take our running shoes to T2 outside the Palace on the Saturday afternoon. T1 would be next to the lake.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eBut things were not going according to plan! The Standard distance race was on the Saturday and at midnight on Friday the organisers issued an email declaring that the lake was too polluted to swim in (due to the heavy rain on Thursday) and so it would be a duathlon instead. The Sprint athletes were growing suspicious that they would have to turn our race into a duathlon as well. How could the lake possibly recover within the space of 24 hours? But no – the organisers assured us on Saturday afternoon that the triathlon was definitely on, and so we got an early night in preparation for the early start on Sunday morning.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eAt 6am David, Linda and I were on our bikes and heading down to the lake for an 8am start. It had been raining again overnight but even so we weren’t prepared for the state of the transition area. Linda, Rose and I were directed to bike rack areas which were under several centimetres of water. Fortunately we all had crates which we were supposed to put our wetsuits in after the swim, so we asked permission from the technical officials to put them upside down so that we could keep our bike shoes out of the water.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eIt must have been about 7.15 when there was an announcement from the Head Referee: the water in the lake had failed its pre-race tests. (What a surprise!) So the race would be a duathlon: a very short run from the lake to spread us all out a bit, a bike leg leaving from and returning to the lake area, and a final run from there up to the finish at the Palace. Which was a logistical nightmare as our run shoes were all in T2 at the Palace! The organisers explained that our run shoes (which we had fortunately been told to put in bags) were all being moved down to the lake. And indeed they did this very efficiently. While we waited for this to happen the GB Team Manager (the super-experienced Jon Cowell) was trying to gather all the GB team at the edge of transition so that he could explain the plan. But Jon’s voice had given out after too many days of briefing athletes and so I mustered my best “get yourselves over here” voice (as often practised at the Churcher’s pool) to get everyone in the right place and listening. After Jon’s briefing he then recruited me to work my way down the queue of those who were still trying to get into transition and brief them as to what was happening. Most took the news well (who wants to swim in a polluted lake?) but one guy was really angry – pre-race nerves I guess.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eHaving completed my “deputy team manager” duties I headed back to transition where our shoes had arrived. So we could get our running shoes on and set up transition (while trying to keep everything out of the water). They postponed the start to 8.30 and set us all off in waves at one-minute intervals. So Linda, Rose and I set off at 8.33, followed quite rapidly by the 17-25 year-old guys who shot past us like rockets. By the time the male 40+ age group went past us it was getting quite chaotic.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eI am certainly no runner, so the shift to duathlon was never going to do me any favours, but Rose was flying! She was off on the bike long before I got back to T1, but I wasn’t too far behind Linda. The bike course was beautiful but quite hard (for me): too many climbs for my liking. But I had the good fortune to ride most of the course with another woman from my age group – and we were allowed to work together as it was a draft-legal race. Moira pulled me up the hills, but I did take a few turns on the front. The downhill sections were great – until I breathed in a flying insect and ended up with a choking fit. Then Moira and I were back in transition – I knew she could outrun me so I was pretty sure I was going to come last in my age group, but I didn’t really mind as I knew the others (including Rose) were much better runners than me and deserved their positions. But as I left transition to start the second run I spotted Linda just ahead of me. I decided I would just use her as a pacer and see if I could keep in touch with her.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThe sting in the second run course was a stupidly steep zig-zag road which took us up towards the Palace. It would have been bad enough riding up it (it was originally to be part of the bike course) but running up it was near impossible (unless you were Leighton or David). Of course that is where our wonderful Team Manager had positioned himself so that he could spur us on – so I felt I really had to try and run past him. Then it was back to a walk until the race photographer loomed ahead of us – and so I tried to run again, this time paced up the hill by a Dutch spectator until I told him that pacing wasn’t legal!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eThen we were at the top of the hill with a flattish section ahead of us to the finish. But no-one knew what the run course was at this point and so Linda and I had no idea how far we had to run (it was no longer a 5k route). Linda then picked up pace but I couldn’t keep up with her and had to let her go. It turned out that she thought the course was shorter than it turned out to be and had gone too early. That gave me a chance to catch her again and in fact go past her as I was being far more circumspect about how far they were going to make us run. By now it was definitely “mind over matter” and I was relieved when we circled back towards the finish area and I could at last judge how much longer I had to keep going. And then the blue carpet appeared and it was all over: Rose was already there waiting for us (10 minutes ahead of me it turned out!) and Linda wasn’t far behind me. And at least this time we got a really nice medal!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eOnce we’d got our breath back we realised that Rose had stormed home to third place in the F70-74 age group! What a result! So once we had grabbed our pieces of water melon and some water it was time for team photos (unfortunately we never did find Leighton – he’d probably gone for a beer and a curry by the time we finished ??). It was still only 11am so there was then plenty of time to head back to our hotels to clean ourselves up and amble back to the Palace for the medal ceremony. How wonderful to see Rose up on the podium for her first time (but not her last I suspect) at an international race.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eRose and I also want to sing the praises of the GB sprint distance women’s 70-74 team in Madrid. Moira was generous in helping me on the bike section. And Sue (1st place) and Kate (2nd place) were so self-effacing in their magnificent performances. It really does feel like a true team, rather than just a group of people competing against each other.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eAs for the results:\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eRose: F70-74 3rd\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eJulie: F70-74 5th\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eLinda: F65-69 7th\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eDavid: M60-64 31st\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\u0022\u003eLeighton: M40-44 30th\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","ContentConfig":{"Caption":null,"Icon":null,"IconColour":null,"CaptionColour":null,"UnderlineColour":null,"TextColour":null,"FontSize":null,"LineHeight":null,"RequiresLoggedInUser":false,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"ComponentCode":null,"ComponentError":null,"BottomMargin":"0px","PaddingLeft":"0px","PaddingTop":"0px","PaddingRight":"0px","PaddingBottom":"0px","CssClass":null,"ResponsiveClasses":"","PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null,"Background":{"Colour":null,"ImageURL":null,"Filter":null,"IsParallax":false,"Image":"","Tint":""},"ImageConfig":{"ImageURL":null,"ObjectFit":"contain","ImageHeight":null,"FrameStyle":null,"BorderRadius":null,"Caption":{"IsActive":false,"Text":null,"SubText":null,"Font":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"SubFont":{"Size":null,"Colour":null},"Alignment":null,"Position":null,"Margin":null,"BackgroundColour":null,"Blur":false,"Hover":false},"AltText":null,"LinkURL":null,"BottomMargin":0,"PaddingLeft":"10px","PaddingTop":"10px","PaddingRight":"10px","PaddingBottom":"10px","PhoneVisible":true,"TabletVisible":true,"DesktopVisible":true,"CssClass":null,"PageLinkName":null,"PageLinkCaption":null},"IgnoreCache":false}]},{"Width":4,"WidthClasses":"col-md-4 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