World Standard Distance Triathlon Championships, 24 Sep 2023

A series of unfortunate events!

The days leading up to the race were less than ideal. It started upon arrival at the airport where we discovered that the rental company had double booked and had no car for us until 4pm at the earliest, it was currently 10am (unfortunate event 1). After some faffing, we managed to hire a car with a different company for a similar price, except when we went to get 2 bike boxes in the back, the boot was too narrow (unfortunate event 2). After even more faffing, we convinced them to let us change the car for the same price, which solved that problem after 2 hours of stress. Luck was not on Teresa (our team mate)'s side either, who was arriving on a later flight the same evening. After delays and more delays she didn't touch down until 6am the following day (unfortunate event 3). Dave collected her from the airport and we were certain that we were owed some good fortune.

Bikes were to be racked the day before the race and after skillfully getting 3 people and 3 bikes into a Renault Clio, we drove the 40 mins to Pontevedra. It wasn't until we were unloading the bikes that we realised we'd forgotten to put the race stickers on and there would be no time to go back and get them before the bike check-in slot closed (unfortunate event 4). We decided to chance it and see if we could get new stickers, since the next slot wasn't until 7:30pm and we really didn't want to be hanging around that late the night before the race. Well that was a mistake because what actually happened was that we spent 2.5hours walking around Pontevedra with our bikes and Teresa got a flat on her tubular tyre (unfortunate event 5). After all that, we weren't able to check-in the bikes anyway and had to ditch them at Conor's flat whilst we drove back to retrieve our stickers, absolutely exhausted and extremely stressed. We decided that we would eat our pre-race meal whilst we were back at the Airbnb, but with our luck, we probably shouldn't have bothered. Of course, the jar of pasatta we'd bought for our pasta rolled onto the floor and smashed, making the white kitchen look like a murder scene (unfortunate event 6). Cue Dave running to the shop to retrieve more sauce and our stress levels rising even further.

Surely this would be the end to our bad luck? We had a great time watching the pro men's race, finally managed to check-in our bikes and the sealant that the bike shop put in Teresa's tyre was holding. Maybe the tables had turned?

Race morning arrived and everything was going smoothly until I spent half an hour queuing for the few loos that were provided and narrowly made my call for the start - stress levels were sky high again (unfortunate event 7). Finally the race started and I was ready to put it all behind me. I got a good start on the swim and after the initial hussle subsided, managed to get myself onto the back of a group of about 6 and draft the entire swim. The dream situation, I had to put in very little work and my time was decent.

T1 went smoothly and I was happy to gain 3 places by leaving my shoes on the bike, a newly acquired skill. The bike course was a cracker, a long steady climb, a turn in the road and a fast descent back down again (twice). My bad luck was back and my power pedals never connected, so this one was going to be to feel (unfortunate event 8). I got into a good rhythm on the climb, able to stay on my aero bars and spurred on by trying to close the gap to another GBR athlete in my age group. I seemed to be overtaking a lot, but not all were in my age group and by the end of the 1st climb I'd gone from 16th out of the swim into 11th place and had closed the gap to the GBR athlete to only 12m. We turned around and wow the descent was fabulous, flying down in max gear with the legs still spinning, making myself as aero as possible. My max speed was 68km/h - so much fun! Then I turned around and did it all again. It was on the climb for the 2nd time when I attempted to take my bike gel. ‘Attempted’ because it ripped open along the seam and the entire thing ended up all over my legs and hands (unfortunate event 9). There was none left to consume and this proved disastrous later on.

I held 11th place throughout the bike and T2 came up on me sooner than I thought. This was really my fault for not understanding where the dismount line would be, but it was annoying nonetheless since I ran out of time to get my feet out of my shoes and didn't get a chance to show off my newly mastered flying dismount. The run started well and I was happy enough with my pace considering I've not been running so much these past couple of months due to a few niggles I didn't want to become full injuries. I held a steady pace for the first 3 laps; I hadn't passed anyone in my age group, but no one had passed me either. I was still in 11th when the lack of nutrition caused by the gel explosion finally caught up with me on the last lap. I knew I was bonking but I was helpless to do anything about it - I just had to hold on for 10 more minutes (unfortunate event 10). It wasn't enough and on that last lap I was overtaken by 3 people in my age group and I had absolutely no energy left to respond.

I finished 14th place in the World and whilst this really isn't too shabby for my first appearance at the World's in the Standard Distance, it's bittersweet knowing that I would have been 3 places higher if it hadn't been for a nutrition failure and I had put in the run performance that I know I'm capable of. But every time I gain experience, both racing and travelling for a race, and next time I'll be stronger because it. Bring on Málaga 2024!

Emily Young