Just Champion

                                            

                            

Do you know, that if it wasn’t for that ‘end of the world feeling’ that I have been having, under something of a cloud since my 81st birthday a couple of weeks ago, which I seemed to take rather badly, and that was pretty was stupid of me actually, since I am very fit for my age; this would have been day of great memories, a day to celebrate how marvellous 2019 was.

FaceBook did not need to have reminded me that this day, September 1^st last year was an unbelievably high point of my entire triathlon career. There are photos all over the place today showing my finish photo at the ITU World standard distance triathlon Championships in Lausanne Switzerland. It is a joyous picture of a woman who does not look anything like her 80 years, jumping over the finish line with both feet clearly in the air and it must have been a good jump because the shot was taken from several angles, automatically I believe, but in of them I have those two feet high in the air and that alone is impressive at my age.

My times were: Swim 48.10/Bike 1.56.59/Run 1.25.53/ total 4.23.00

Some competitors did not even start when, just an hour before hand, it was judged to be too warm for wetsuits. That suited me just fine. The current may have been a worry for those people since the River Rhône runs right through the centre of Lake Geneva making the main part of the swim much harder. 

The bike route was very hard with some steep hills but actually went up and down for the duration of the bike ride. My closest opposition in my age group was from the USA and did not make the bike cut off. The run would have been fun had it not had a lap course that went up and down the steps in the park leading to the Olympic Museum. When did stairs come into triathlon anyway?

It was hot and hard, and I was lucky to be spurred on but several members of the GBR squad who had taken part in the sprint race the day before and their endless shouts, encouraging me to ‘Keep going Daf’ as a I passed by on the road below, going to and from the turn point was a huge help.

Needless to say, once you turn into the finish shoot all the pain disappears completely allowing the body rustle up that finish leap.

This memory has lifted the dark cloud that has been around for so long this year when not a single event escaped postponement into 2021.  A year is a long time to octogenarians, so good job my running has improved so much during lockdown.