Race Report
Challenge France
13 June 2010
Having just done a half two weeks prior I wasn’t quite sure how this would go for me.
Once again it was not the warmest of days and the water was pretty chilly. For a change I felt really good in the water. It was a quick swim with everyone having fast times(perhaps slightly short).
I had a very smooth transition, out of the wetsuit and onto the bike. Although the first 20km of the bike were flat and fast it took some time getting warmed up and finding a good rhythm. With a few steep climbs and narrow country roads it was a fairly challenging bike course, but by no means a slow one. I felt I had paced myself pretty well, feeling good at the end of the 90km bike.(Maybe I could have gone a bit harder, but I’ll never know.)
Feeling good I had a quick transition through T2 and onto the run. However the run course proved to put a bit of a dampener into the works. A challenging course with majority of the run off road, pretty much no flats, going straight up and sharp downs (injury risk) to test the legs even more. During the first lap of the two lap run I picked up a niggle just below the knee, however I still managed to override the pain temporarily with adrenaline and finish strong with an even run split crossing the line in 15th. Once again a great race for me and a new PB. Raynard Tissink taking the top step on the day.
Race Review
Based in the south of France near the German border, the race takes you through a lot of country side and small villages with beautiful scenery. Although not many people speak English its still a great vibe with a good and safe course, not to mention freshly made pizza at the finish line. It is also a race that has attracted a few big names in the past such as Macca, and boasts a fair sized age group field.
Overall results
Position: 15th
Overall time: 4:22:33
Swim: 0:25:21
Bike: 2:29:25
Run: 1:24:03