Zell am See 70.3, 31 Aug 2025

I’ve been excited about this race for a while, training has been going really well and I’ve been having a really solid run block so I was buzzing to get out on course. In the days leading up to it, I couldn’t believe I would be racing in such an incredibly, stunning location and this was amplified when on race day we were greeted with beautiful blue skies and some warmer weather.

An unusual 11 o’clock start meant a full 9 hours sleep, breakfast at a sensible time and then a 09:30 marmite sandwich to keep the hunger side of things at bay. I got to transition early to allow myself time to sort everything out and do a land-based warm up and stretch, the time quickly passed and we were soon heading towards the water. Having had a few rainier, cooler days in the lead up, the water temperature was about 20 degrees so a wetsuit swim, but standing there in your wetsuit ready for the start, you couldn’t wait to be greeted by the cooler water – it was warm!

I’ve been swimming really well in the pool, but have never seen it transfer across to Ironman/70.3 races, maybe that’s because all my swims have been sea swims, or I haven’t taken it out as hard as I probably could, so here I was going to start fast and try and settle in to a good rhythm.

The pros were off at 11:00 and 11:05, with the age groupers setting off at 11:10. Down the ramp and I was into the water. I stuck to the outer side, in order to try and not get caught up in all the bodies, and straight away I got into a really good rhythm – with beautiful mountain views on my (right) breathing side, I just kept marvelling at what a glorious location this was. I did lots of overtaking in the swim on the first half and was feeling good – even better when I got to the turn buoy and realised my arms had not started aching yet (usually this happens around 500-700m as they get warm). So I continued on at the pace, swimming past more people. I had one guy next to me for ages and he eventually pulled ahead, so I managed to get on to his feet for a bit (something I’ve never managed) and used him to keep going. The remainder of the swim got a little bit hectic as everyone was trying to head towards the swim exit, but I was able to avoid most people and get out at the ramp. I was gobsmacked to look down at my watch and briefly see a time with 31 in it, before I flicked it over to transition. Super chuffed with that (even more so post-race when I realised I was 14th female in the swim and 3rd in my age group – madness!).

On to T2, it was a long-ish run to the bags, a bit more of a run to the bikes and then a long-ish run to the bike mount line. I really wanted a solid bike split, so decided to go to the loo in transition (I am not one of these people who can pee in the swim!) – so this meant a slightly longer T2.

Onto the bike, now having done the climb on Rouvy I knew what I was in for so as excited as I was for such an epic course, I knew I needed to keep the legs for the big climb. 20km of flat and FAST roads before the climb, the tarmac was unbelievable and I was being conservative and still hitting 22mph average (nuts!). I made sure the legs kept spinning, getting lots of nutrition on board as I knew I would eat less on the climb. We got to just after 20km and the climb began, the first 3km is a little steeper, maybe 10% gradient, so I dropped into my lowest gear and just kept the legs spinning. After that there is about 8km of 5/6% average gradient so I was able to go up a gear or two and keep the legs ticking over nicely. We then hit the aid station, where I got a nice shout out from the MC up there (always a boost), before we hit the last 2-3km which is around 14% - spicy! This is where I could start to feel the weight of the TT bike (and my 11-30 cassette) a bit and just kept chugging forwards, knowing the descent and flat for 50km was in sight! I made it to the top and now for the fun (not in my eyes), the descent. Usually this descent would have been magical, but due to a decent swim, I had the uber bikers now catching up at this point and they were going full send down the mountain. I felt like I couldn’t quite get the lines I would hope for as people were flying past me at crazy mph. So I made the conservative decision to go a bit slower than I could on those roads, and get to the bottom of the descent in one piece – which I did. We then began going on some even faster roads (maybe -1%) gradient and I was absolutely flying – legs feeling good post climb. The kms ticked by and I was able to admire more of the gorgeous scenery. We then had a few lumps to contend with between 60 and 80km but nothing compared to the mountain before. I rolled through to T2 with a time of 3:07 – not bad with a mountain in the middle!

Another wee in T2, as a loo stop was not impacting my run time, I grabbed my gear and was off on the run with legs that did not feel mine. The first 2km was faster than I intended, but it felt easy – probably because I still couldn’t feel my legs so it was tricking my lungs and heart, hah! I then settled into the pace I was happy with, aiming for anything sub-2. It was hot by this point so every aid station, I walked and threw water over my head, swigged electrolytes and coke, before grabbing the ice on hand and putting it down the back of my tri suit. There were long drags around 6k and 13km which slowed the pace a little, but then you got the reward of going down and gaining back some time. Round the top half of the lake twice with two trips through town, it was a lovely, well-supported course. My legs finally came back to being my own around 10km and I felt super comfortable, both in myself and my nutrition/gut, win win! We finished the last drag at 14km and settled into the return journey of the course to the finish line. I hit the final km and was able to finish strong down the finishers shute – coming in with a run time of 1:56 – big win!

Overall, I’m dead chuffed with the race, I knew coming into it I was fit, but for everything to come together so well was incredible. To top it off with such spectacular views, was just something else. A big credit to Tim (for the fitness not the views!).

I normally never want to do a race again, but Zell am See, you have my heart – I would love to be back!

Lottie Lindsley