ITU World standard distance triathlon
Championships: Lausanne, Switzerland 2019
On August 27th we
drove to Beaune, in Burgundy
for a last couple of days training before the World Championships. All we did
was a couple of really nice familiar bike rides. We know that area well, having
been there for work and sport bike holidays on umpteen occasions, this time we
did a quiet and ultra pretty canal ride that we like, it
has a café and a
bakery at the far end.
Then on 29th we
drove just 200 km to Lausanne
through the Forêt du Jura and a little way further on to Cully, where Steve’s
nose for something different found us booked in to, Auberge Du Raisin, a quiet
place a few miles outside of the city. It was perfect for us, he had chosen a
large attic room where we could spread out and relax. Steve had been influenced
because of its highly rated restaurant. It was a mere two minutes walk down to
the lakeside and the fabulous views there, close to the ferry point for lake
tours. Steve likes to stay somewhere quiet since he knows me well enough to want
to avoid having me get nervous before big events. Calm, calm, calm is the key.
When we went in to Lausanne for me to
register or the event, it seemed, through talking to other competitors, that
some swimmers had already found out that there was a strong current for the
swim. That had seemed obvious to Steve and I, since the race first came into
the picture for us. We were aware that the River Rhône entered Lake Geneva at
one end of the lake and exited near the city of Geneva. The Rhône is not just a little stream,
so there is bound to be a strong flow. Our home is in Littlehampton on the south
coast of England, where the River Arun, that is the second fasted river in the
UK, joins the English Channel; so even though I am quite old and do not swim that
fast, a strong current would not cause me to get my panties in a tangle.
On Sunday September 1st,
having checked my spot in transition added my drink to the bike and in my case
a handful of Jelly Babies for the bike course section I have to add that not
everything works for all. I never eat before a race. I don’t eat breakfast
normally. There was a long hanging about time before the wave starts and in the
hour before the first wave, it was announced officially though not altogether
unexpectedly, that it would be a no wetsuit swim. That was a disappointment to
some but something that I was perfectly happy about.
For the first time at Worlds,
I was competing in a new age category of 80-84 after my 80th birthday two weeks
before. My opposition was American. During the course of the event my husband/coach
Stephen, shouted at me every now and again to let me know how far ahead I was. The
first time, he said I was 27 minutes ahead but later on it had stretched to
almost an hour. He did not give me updates out on the run course and I found
out later that he was so pleased and excited that he left me to it and went for
a burger! We found out later that the
nearest woman had not made one of several time cut offs and had been withdrawn.
I was the only female in that group to complete the course and so I became
World Champion again.
There were only four men (of
seven) in that age group who finished the race in the cut off time and only one
of those was faster than me. So I was unquestionably my category winner.
It was a very hard event. I
would say the most challenging ‘Worlds’ that I have ever race in. After over a week of very hot calm weather there had
been heavy overnight rain and by morning the conditions in Lake
Geneva were rough.
That did not lower the water
temperature however. With the water conditions most people were not happy about.
The bike course was very hard and hilly with challenging climbs and a couple of
dangerous descents. I saw one man hit the metal barrier on a descending corner
so hard it made a dreadful clanging thud and he flew over the barrier quite
close to where I was climbing upwards on the other side. He landed with a thump
and was lying on the road screaming as I rode on. I know that sounds mean, but
there were people there and they were already quickly attending to him.
I had prayed for a
thunderstorm or at least rain for the run but unfortunately my prayer passed
unheard and the sun came out and returned to the oppressive heat of the
previous days. I have never experiences such a hard run as this one which had
six ascents of the park paths including sets of STEPS surrounding the Olympic Museum. The
downhill sections were a relief, I love running downhill but it was mostly in
the heat of the sun. It was a great relief to get to the blue carpet of the
race finish, knowing that I was World Champion in my age group and
pre-qualified for 2020 worlds in Edmonton,
Canada. A race
I have done before in 2014.
Lausanne Distances: 1500 metres Lake
swim/ 40km bike ride/10km… though it seemed much further!
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