Junior ETU Championships,&….. Windsor Duathlon

Well, I have to say, I thought spring was finally here this week! Warm weather, sunshine and baby lambs in the fields!

Then came the weekend!!

Well, before I embark on our trip to Windsor, a mention HAS to go to our super fast Junior Serena, who had flown out to Germany to race in the Junior Elite Duathlon Championships! First ever big event, racing against the fastest Juniors in Europe, scary stuff! I as yet do not have a full race report as they are heading back to the UK, however, I do know that she ran in with the fastest pack, and stuck with them on the bike for about half the course then there was a small break away group, which Serena couldn’t quite hold onto. Final result was 7th overall, which is an outstanding performance, and there will be many more to come! Huge congratulations from us all and looking forward to catching up this week!

Back to the UK……Urgh……HUGE drop in temperature, Northerly wind, rain, and even sleet and snow thrown at us at Eton on Saturday.  However, this didn’t stop the Tripurbeck and Goalspecific athletes, Claude, recovering from jet lag and his first standard distance, David  in his first ever Duathlon (what a way to start!)  our very own Annie, who was racing for the first time as a junior in an adult race (I might add, aged 13 in a 16-18 age category!) and myself!  Well, I cannot explain how nervous, but excited I was racking my bike next to my Annie (who was going to have to include weight training in her transition just getting her rather hefty bike off the rack!!) As for me, after a tough week, damaging my quad muscle, and a  stomach bug (which I might add resulted in Annie having a day off school with sickness 3 days before her race), my goal was to see if I could just keep up with Annie on the first run lap, and to see if my ankle could make it through, after a pretty rough experience at Clumber

So, whilst trying to warm our very cold bodies before the race, Annie asked me (several times) “…….why am I doing this?” and I have to say whilst the rain was driving down, I was struggling for an answer.  However, we lined up with David and  Claude (before he sped off super fast) and set off with all the other crazy athletes. The run was 1 lap for Annie and 4 for me, so I ran the first lap with Annie before she sped off onto her bike. I did wonder if she was going to overtake me on her second run before I had actually  finished my first run (which was rather long F3 Events!). And, as I was heading back for my bike, I forced a high 5 out of Annie heading out onto her second run, shouting at me “….why are you smiling!” (…..well I can assure you I wasn’t until I saw Annie! :) )

Happy in the knowledge Annie was finishing her race I headed off on the bike to chase Claude down (…if only!) 1 lap in I thought I was going to throw up, 2nd lap, no improvement, so heading onto the 3rd lap I made the decision that if my stomach didn’t improve I would call it a day! However maybe it was the head on wind, or  driving rain, but heading back I suddenly felt a bit better, so stuck it out to the bitter end. It would also seem that I was one of many out there who got punctures, but I made it back to head out onto the final run, and several more high 5s with Claude, until the end, which wasn’t a moment too soon!  Claude had a cracking race finishing 3rd in his age group,  20th overall, (Im now trying to convince hit to get in a pool and have a stab at some triathlons!) and despite Davids saddle dropping down on the bike, he put in a great first time duathlon performance finishing 2nd in his age group. However, the best performance has to go to Annie, who despite only being 13 in her first race, with a very heavy bike and trainers, finished 5th overall in the super sprint and first Junior! As for me, I finished 4th, and first female Vet, so it was lovely having two Bungays at the Awards presentation. So, who’s up next? Isobel, Annie (again!) Eric, Claire and Gareth are all racing in the Osprey Triathlon next week, then its off to France for us for Aix en Provence, before seeing the ankle surgeon!!

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