European Sprint Duathlon Championships, 11 Jul 2026

This year’s race was held in Spain in July and although I expected it to be warm, I wasn’t expecting it to be one of their hottest weeks! It had been hot in the UK but I tend to run in the morning, so probably didn’t heat acclimatise very well. Despite this, I felt like my training had gone well this year and I’d had no illnesses or injuries leading up to the event.

We headed out to Banyoles on the Wednesday, giving me three days to prepare for the event, which was being held only a short walk from our Airbnb, around a beautiful lake.

The run course was on a flat section of road and tarmac paths next to the lake and the bike course headed out of the town, up a hill to a dead turn before heading back down to the town to complete a lap of the lake. The second run was then another lap of the run course.

The race started at 10:10am (I think we would have all preferred to start earlier if it meant it would be a bit cooler) and before our race, each age group had to stand in direct sun next to our bikes in transition before being led to the start line. I was already hot before we started, even though I had ice-cold water in my transition box.

We started the run and I felt everyone go off quite fast, but I couldn’t keep up the pace, I felt like the heat was holding me back even though I either had a drink or poured water over me at each water station. I got into a pace that I could hold, behind another athlete and maintained that to transition.

My bike was near the top of the row in transition so was easy to find and as I came out of the transition, I got onto the wheel of another athlete. However, I soon got dropped as we went up the hill. After riding up the hill for a bit on my own, I came across a British athlete who I had ridden with at the World Championships in Pontevedra last year, I told her to join me and we rode together for the rest of the course, taking it in turns to go on the front. As we took the road around the lake, I was pleased not to be in a large group as there were so many speed bumps and we went past someone who had come off their bike near one.

A larger group of female athletes joined us just before we went into transition, making it a little crowded and we had to navigate a steep carpeted slope into the stadium where transition was. I picked up my bike and carefully went down the slope, luckily not falling over in the process. I squirted some of the ice-cold water on myself before heading off for the final run.

Again, I picked a pace that I could maintain, picking up bottles of water at the aid stations and looking out for my supporters who were cheering me on before giving a final push to a sprint finish at the end.

I finished 5th in my age group and as 3rd Brit in my age group, I earned a qualifying place for next year’s race in Spain again!

Overall, I am a bit disappointed as I feel I could have been faster if the conditions had been better, but perhaps next year I will be able to acclimatise.

Sarah Hunter