Race Registration Day: Ironman 70.3 Gdynia, Poland

 

When we woke and peeked out of the hotel window this morning it was looking as though it would be a damp old day. It is registration day for the event on Sunday. So since registration did not start until 12.30 pm we though it was a good time to go out and drive around the bike course. Our hotel The Marriot Gdynia, Waterfront, is very close to the race base and we took a quick walk down to see if the preparations were any further forward. In our many entries to Ironman races both full distance and 70.3 (half Ironman) like this one it is all usually very professional.  There had been a busy night for the volunteers, that was evident since much more of the barrier work and the Ironman Village was now in place. We popped into the Starbucks right next door, for our morning hit of our favourite coffee to start us off in a good mood. We don’t usually take breakfast. 

Not in your wildest dreams would you want to attempt to bike around any of the starting miles of the course because that would involve trying to find your way through very heavy city traffic. Not nice. Not wise. So we got Petra the Peugeot out of the hotel parking and set off with a map, Steve’s phone on SatNav and with the bike course showing on Steve’s iPad.

We tried to drive the bike course expecting that at time in this late in race planning that it would be clearly marked along the route but it was not marked out at all, and we went wrong several times in heavy traffic. The only indication that there would be an important event going on very soon was some road closure notices but they were not just on the route. The start miles are horrid, inner city, built up and being quite honest, plain ugly. 

We went on to plan B, and set the SatNav on the phone for the first marked point out of the city centre. Keeping an eye on the ipad showing the bike route, to try to keep us in check. Another failing, but this time on our part was that we had not got the hang of more than a few words in Polish and signage is all Polish, sometimes with a choice of spelling the same name. 

After sweating blood and spitting feathers and lowering the tone of our language, we eventually made it out onto the distance loop of the bike course. I have mentioned previously whilst blogging on this holiday that Poland appears to be, for the largest part, anyway of the areas we had seen, one huge, endless but rather pretty, thick forest. The distant two thirds of the bike route for the race is all forest. Again I have to add that it is very pretty but it has some quite bad rutted roads passing through it. So no chance of being familiar with it since neither of us could remember anything resembling a noticeable landmark.  As far as degree of difficulty, there is a long climb from the port, out to the main loop, then it is undulating every bit of the way, but no worse than the general Sussex roads and hills of our home bike routes in the UK. There is a long downhill stretch back to the port to finish. I’m feeling a bit worried I have to say, but that won't help I know. If I get lost on the bike I will never be found again!!!!!! Forest, forest and more very thick, dark, forest with dirt roads going off to either side with no sign of life. 

Yesterday we explored the run lap course and that is pretty straight forward so I will feel better if I make it out onto the run. I will require all those fingers belonging to people who know me to keep them crossed on Sunday please.

 

The old Port area of Gdynia is lovely and has very interesting war and maritime museums.