Wight Tri members Liz Dunlop and Jan Fletcher made the trip across the channel at the weekend to compete in the European Age Group Triathlon Championships, held in Vichy, France, with the swim taking place in the River Allier.
Jan was competing in the Sprint Distance Triathlon on the Saturday with Liz taking on both the Sprint Distance Triathlon and the Standard Distance Triathlon on the Sunday.
Both have raced for the GB Age Group Team before with Jan donning the GB kit on her 7th occasion, with veteran Liz now going for her 30th and 31st GB representation.
Saturday’s Sprint Triathlon was an early start for both ladies and although it was cool around 10-12 degrees to begin with, the sun came out and made for a pleasant race with the water temperature of almost 17 degrees similar to UK temperatures.
Liz was off first of the duo in the 1st group of waves for the 60+ female age groups and started off with a solid swim time of 15.58 to exit the river in 6th from 10 in the 65-69 category, just 8secs behind 5th. Posting 38.55 for the 3 lap route, which looped around both sides of the river, and having lost nearly 2mins on 5th, Liz pushed hard on the run and managed to make up this time to finish 5th overall in the 65-69 category with a solid 25.33 5km run split and an overall time of 1.24.28.
Jan set off an hour later in the 45-49 category but unfortunately she had issues with her breathing early on in the swim which resulted in her having to slow down and adjust her breathing. Similar to Liz, Jan was out on her own and spent 2 of the 3 lap bike course solo and not benefiting from the draft of others, but she worked really hard to catch up with a pack on the 3rd lap which allowed her to save her legs as best she could for the one lap run.
After the event, Jan said:
“ This was only my 4th but final race of the season. Having been interrupted by injuries and niggles this year my training has been far less consistent than normal and I knew I was far from the peak condition I expect but I’d taken the decision to race knowing this. I just forget to remind myself of that and adjust my expectations accordingly going into the race.
It was a tough race and as always I gave it everything I had. My bike and run times were good and a 9th place is respectable with all things considered so I’ll take the positives”.
After a quick turnaround, Liz was back on the start line the next afternoon. However, the weather conditions were the complete opposite. It had rained all night and continued to rain for almost most of the event.
With a more demanding bike route on narrow lanes and hilly country roads, it was a test to stay in control on the bike.
Again in the 60+ age group wave, she failed to find feet to draft on and ended up towing a few of her own age group around the longer 1500m swim. Exiting T1 in 4th in a slow 33.16, she was disappointed as she had hoped to have been closer to the top 3 in her age group. With the rain coming down heavy in transition, Liz was not looking forward to the 42km cycle.
Posting 1.33.36 and now in 5th place, Liz was glad to finish safely on the bike, knowing she had given her best in such horrible weather conditions.
She started fast on the run to try to make up some time, and managed to overtake the 5th competitor about 2 km into the 2 lap 10km run. However, she had lost so much out of the swim, that the 3rd place was way out of her reach. Liz struggled on the final lap of the run as the underfoot conditions on the off road sections were now slippery mud and with nothing left in her legs from the previous days event, she completed the run in 57.50, way down on her normal time for this distance.
At the end of the 2 days, Liz commented:
“I was happy with my 5th position in the Sprint as I have done very little speed training, and even with a faster bike split, I would still be well off the podium slots. However, I felt that a 3rd place in the Standard Distance was attainable, and on a better day I could have achieved that. In hindsight, it might have been wiser to just compete in the standard event!!
“But it was my decision to race both events on consecutive days and I was just not in good enough form to make the podium this time!’
Both Jan and Liz have now finished their race season and will look forward to getting some well earned rest and then start winter training for next year’s Team GB Age Group events.