Gran Canaria 2026

The first triathlon of the season for many, in a warm sunny venue is a great way to start the season. This year we had Matt, Eric, Jack myself, Annie, in the long course and Zara, Max Fin and Noah lining up for a rematch in the short course. In the lead up to the race, it was a perfect mid 20s temperature with a gentle breeze and calm waters. That all changed on Saturday where it heated up to over 30 degrees with a very strong, incredibly warm wind, with the added extra of hazardous air quality due to desert dust. This resulted in a choppy second lap of the swim, then a T1 which comprised of hurdling the red carpet which was blowing all over the place, then a bike course which was treacherous as the wind just came at you from all directions as it bounced off the cliff faces along the course, distributing dust making for very thirsty athletes, only to be refreshed by incredibly warm drink bottles due to the air temp. Then onto the new run course which was somewhat lacking in aid stations bearing in mind what the weather was like. That said, the athletes dealt with it in their stride. Matt was over an hour faster than last year (all be it on a hire bike in 2025) and riding faster than a fair few pros. Sensibly, due to a calf strain he stopped after the bike so we can get back to training in prep for Warsaw. Jack put his foot down as he always does on the bike, only to find after about 10k that he had no big cog, so just managed with the gears he had and put in a solid performance throughout, in conditions which he really does not like. Annie put in a great swim and bike, and even though the dust and wind played havoc with her breathing, she battled that run out. Eric, well the older he gets the faster he goes, and despite the conditions, and having knee surgery in December, posted a PB and came 2nd in the 70-74 AG! As for me, rather frustratingly I came down with a nasty throat and eye infection, and with no voice, and coughing literally ALL night pre race I decided to start, but to play it by ear, in the full knowledge that I would have to pull at some point. Retrospectively, spectating would have been the better option as I could not breathe in the swim and died a death on the bike due to my throat and eyes being on fire, and just not being able to breathe. No-one likes a DNF but sometimes health has to be put first, and a DNS would perhaps have been more advisable. Time to recover now, as Salou is only in a few weeks, and it would be good to be fit for that.

Onto the short course! Even though training had been a bit on the sparse side from the short course team, it did not seem to impact them, (the joys of being young) and despite tougher conditions than last year, they all raced a great race. Zara finishing 2nd in her AG, and a change to the boys top 3, with Fin winning this year, and Noah a close 2nd. Max battled through despite his pedal falling off after one lap of the bike and seemed to just get faster as the run went on, so clearly there now has to be a best of 3?

We are now all committed to going back next year, so who fancies joining us for the 2027 GC goalspecific trip?