Take this famous picture for example, you might see a witch or you might see a young woman, but in the end its the same thing your looking at.... The side line report:
Muddy medals from Myjava - ETU Cross Triathlon Championships
Monday, June 21, 2010
The European Cross Triathlon Championships took place over the weekend in Stara Myjava, near Bratislava, Slovakia. Athletes were subjected to a true test of grit, determination and courage with some vertical climbs and stomach sinking descents on both the bike and run.
Team GB had no women in the elite wave but on the men’s side, there was representation from Tom Curtis, Tim McDowell and Graham Wadsworth. The race began with a 1000m swim in a 13°C mountain lake followed by a 25km mountain bike and a 7.5km run. Conditions were very muddy but warm and sunny, making the bike course even more challenging.
The British trio had fantastic support from the Age Group athletes who travelled there for their race on Sunday. Wadsworth had a strong bike and the 4th quickest run split of the day which helped him to a 10th place overall finish and first British male across the line. McDowell had a great swim and bike and fought hard on the run to finish in 12th place. After a great swim which saw him exit the water in joint 3rd overall, Curtis finished in a credible 20th place in his first ever off-road triathlon.
However, it was Frankie Batelier (FRA), 2009 Xterra European Champion, who won the elite men’s race with another commanding performance to become European Cross Champion. Batelier was 3rd out of the swim but soon took the lead on the bike and never looked back. In second place was Vic Morales Del Corral (ESP) who had the fastest run of the day and Tomas Jurkovic (SVK) was third.
Batelier said after the race, “it was a very hard race today – the mud on the bike course made the conditions hard, especially on the second lap and the long climbs made the run tough. I was very happy to win here today though as there was good competition.”
Team Great Britain, muddy tired and luvin it! Through mud stained pupils, Macca saw things alittle different:
Oh yes, the athletes were indeed subjected to a true test of grit, determination and courage. Complete with, said vertical climbs and stomach sinking descents. Twice up a ski field during the bike and once up a 1 in 3 for 200m during each lap of the run, not forgetting the opening 15minutes of climbing on a 3inch deep mud track during both bike laps and the 8lbs of mud gained during my time muscling my way round the course. Oh almost forgot the 13'c swim that had you loose all dexterity and feeling before the first turn. (That should give you alittle more insight into what lay deep within the course and the true nature of this beast!)
So the race began in the usual ITU/ETU "as seen on TV" way of announcing each competitor and nation as they stepped out onto the blue carpet to take up there position before the gun went off........
Its a real tense time and stood there 8th from the end directly in line with the first true buoy, I had my stomach in my mouth for the first of many times that day.
The swim was like nothing Ive ever done before, a real scrap. I slipped out the back of the pack with 200m fighting/swimming left so as to avoid trouble and entered T1 in the early teens and about 20sec down on the main group.
I entered transition OK, word from Suze and the gang let me know I was less than 90sec behind the front group. This lead to a mass of fumbling as i rushed to make the switch from swimmer to cyclist.
Id love to say the bike went by without a problem and the front group dragged me round as I had planned. But alas, this was not to be..... It took most of the opening 15minute climb to find my rhythm on the now tire deep mud track up the mountain.(this may have been due to my tubed rear tire at 40psi, I had to run a tube last minute.Any softer would have risked a flat on the downhill??) By the top of which I was struggling to stay within the first 20 guys. I slipped and slid my way round the first lap holding my position until a fall during one of the exposed rooty sections had me drop a place as well as my chain. Once both rider and drive were back on the move things never really felt in sync??? Into lap 2 I lost all use of my small chain ring and had to result to lots of over geared efforts and extra hike-a-bike sections. It became very lonely out there in the Slovakian mountains i can tell you.
Ive never been happier to arrive at T2 in my life, i was even heard telling people how hard it was as I turned into the ski field for the last time and I'm not known for saying much during races normally! The run was a good pairing to the bike course as it too, included some tough climbs and sticky tricky trails. Even though it very resembled my local training routes and I felt ready to attack the 4km laps with vigor my legs had other idea's and I survived the run on the verge of blowing up at any time..
That time came about 3seconds after I crossed the finish line. For me the European Cross Triathlon Championships felt at the time like one of the hardest days of my life. Laying there on the verge of tears in my Great Britain team kit having given my all it also felt like one of the best ones too.
