Rimini ETU Middle Distance Championships
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Official Results |
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This is the second time I have competed in the European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships, and whilst I did not execute a perfect race by any means, it was a much better effort than the debacle of Paguera last year, where I blew up on the run having overheated. This time the problem was the swim. The sea looked calm - especially compared to the days before - but there was still quite a swell. This made sighting difficult, as every time I looked up to sight the next buoy, all I saw was the next wave coming at me. At one stage I could see no other swimmers and no buoys, and was sure I was getting close to Albania, so I headed back towards shore and eventually found some swimmers from two waves (10 mins.) behind me. I was sure I was the last of the 45-59 age group wave, but it turned out that I was not the only one finding the swim difficult. The bike course started flat, but then climbed for close on 40km into the Apennines before turning back down to Rimini. The descent should have been fun and fast and would have been, if it had not been pouring with rain. At one stage I had my brakes full on and still could not slow enough for my liking. Scary! It was better once we came down from the mountain and by the time we started the run not only had the roads dried out, but it was becoming positively hot. Not quite the way I would have planned it. However, I felt OK on the run and this time I did not blow up, despite the rising heat and lack of shade. My run time of 1:46:31 was a little slower than I would have hoped, but it proved to be the 4th fastest of the day (age group) and there lots of good athletes going over 2 hours, so I should not be too hard on myself. Overall I was 6th in my age group out of 22 and 2nd out of 8 in the GBR team. There is still room for improvement, which means I will have to have another go soon - very soon in fact: Staffordshire Ironman 70.3 in three weeks. Madness!
Nick
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