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Race Report:
What a weekend. Wimbleball
70.3 is advertised as the hardest 70.3 in the
world and so it was with much trepidation that Angie and John Harris and
I set off down to Exmoor on Friday morning. We had recce'd the course
and agreed that the hills were formidable and were both a little
worried about cut off times, especially since Malc McEwan has been timed
out there twice before and was on his third attempt this time.
The weather didn't help improve our spirits as it threw torrential rain
and gale force winds at us - when we were putting the tent up, all
through the night, the next day and the saturday night. The camping
field turned into a mud bath reminiscent of a music festival - without
the music or alcohol! We ventured down to the lake to try out the swim
course saturday morning and because the wind was still quite strong, had
to battle against choppy water to get round, but decided this would
still be the easiest of the three disciplines.
Sunday morning dawned, if not bright, then at least temporarily dry, if
still somewhat windy. Final bike checks done, we escorted a friend to
the lake, who was having last minute nerves, and so took our minds off
the impending task. The water was not too cold and much less choppy than
the day before, but we were left hanging around in in while the National
Anthem was played (not that we could hear it at all) and then finally
all hell let loose as 1250 wetsuit clad idiots all swam over, under and
through each other for the next 30 to 60mins. On the grounds that the
battering would be over quicker if you swam fast, Angie and I both made
it out of the lake in around 35mins. Sadly Malc didn't make the swim cut
off this year, which they were enforcing very strictly, and
frustratingly didn't get to attempt the bike course again. He still did
better than another Harrier's member entered, who didn't even make it to
Exmoor, let alone get in the water.
Transition was a long uphill slog and even the fastest were taking over
5mins to get through and out on the bike. I developed bike blindness and
lost my bike in transition, finally finding myslelf standing right next
to it, doh. Once on the bike, the first section was fairly slow due to
congestion as a large number of cyclists and single track windy roads
don't make for a quick getaway, especially when followed by a steep
ascent up to the first main road. After that, however, the course rolls
(admittedly into a headwind) and runs quite fast for about 15miles to a
steep descent (with no overtaking - a rule that was liberally broken)
and on to the hilly second half of the course. Bedfordshire dosen't
really prepare you adequately for the length and steepness of the Exmoor
hills, but having been frightened to death of them, like most things,
they were not as bad in reality as in our imagination. The reception
from supporters at the top of Morepath Hill was awesome and
re-invigorated tired legs brilliantly. Getting to the timing mat at the
start of lap 2 and finding myself within my target time (as did Angie)
was the next hugley positive event and we both set off to achieve faster
splits on our second bike laps.
Coming in to run transition our bikes were efficiently taken from us and
once we had our running shoes on we were out onto the off-road half
marathon to finish the race. The tracks were narrow, twisty, grassy,
uneven and once again hilly, so not ideal for legs tired from biking,
but our training obviously paid off as we both set off strongly on the
run, and I know I was looking forward to this part best as my strongest
section. It's always heartening to pass people and on the run I was
overtaking lots of the guys who had made the cycling look easy. I even
ran with the race leader for a while (even though he was on his last
lap). Actually he could probably have got a better time if I hadn't been
there, as overtaking was very difficult on that section and I have a
sneaky feeling that it wasn't of me that the camera bike in front was
trying to get tv footage!
Coming into the finishing straight (once we'd figured out where it was),
was just amazing. I had to sprint the last few hundred metres and don't
know where I found the speed, but was certain that the girl trying to
catch me was not going to beat me to the line th`is time! She turned out
to be a Pro and having an ancient age-grouper like me beat her can't
have been that great (although she was chatty enough after over a cup of
tea and a bun). I also met Eimar in the finishers tent, looking
recovered, having come in 25mins ahead of me, but seriously annoyed at
losing out on first place by under a minute.
The most frightening part of the day was actually being called up on the
stage for our awards. Angie had a great race and came in third in her
age group (but would have won the age group with the same finishing time
last year). I managed to come in first in my age group and 9th lady
overall (including pros). Having the mike put in front of me and turning
down a World Championship place in Las Vegas was much harder than the
actual race. For both Angie and I to come away with trophies was
absolutely the best part of the weekend and finally made all the
training, time and effort spent getting there worthwhile. Would we do it
again? Absolutely! John quite fancies it too next year, don't you Mr
Harris?
Gill Fullen
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