Blog
Xterra Greece - Bringing the British weather!
25th Jun 2015
Greece 2014 was my first European Xterra - so the 2015 edition was my first chance to revisit any course and see how I had improved!
This was going to be a slightly different race trip, as I was travelling with my friend (and supporter!) Cat, instead of alone or sharing with another competitor. The navigation from Athens didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned – for a start my Sat Nav didn’t have Greece! (I thought they were still in Europe?!) We arrived late at night, but thankfully the restaurant (the one and only in town) was still open – luckily it is great, I remember from last year!
The weather was also somewhat ‘British’ – in fact organiser Kostas joked I’m not allowed to win any prize money for bringing it with me… But it was perfect conditions for racing.
I was also dedicating my race to my friend Katie Henderson – a local Reading athlete, super talented swimmer who I trained with at Reading Masters, and a great competitor when we used to race the British Super Series together. Tragically Katie was killed in a traffic accident last weekend on her way to race Staffordshire 70.3. So I had even more determination to do well here in her memory.
The race started off sunny at least – for the warmup and swim – thankfully the 1000’s of bees floating in the lake the evening before had vanished! While Brigitta got a lead on the swim, and Helena lost a few minutes, the rest of the elite ladies were all in one pack – so a good deal of exchanging positions on the first few km in the bike. This is the kind of racing I love though – actually racing the athletes around you instead of all being strung out. Helena soon made up for her deficit on the swim – passing the whole field and closing on Brigitta up at the front. By the end of the first lap I found myself in 5th place; and then the rain began!
At least I am used to this, but the conditions completely changed the course. The entire descent became a running river, you could not see the ground and I tried to remember the good lines from lap 1 so I didn’t end up in a deep trough of water. The steps that Nico and his team had carefully built to help us ‘small girls’ get up the steep and slippery mud bank, had been entirely washed away in the biblical downpour! It was a challenge to climb the muddy, slippery waterfall with a bike, and glasses had to be abandoned as we couldn’t see anything through the rain.
But thankfully no crashes, and I finished the second lap still in 5th place. Hopefully within catching distance of 4th… I knew Morgane was just behind me off the bike, and a good runner, but this is one of my favourite running courses - so I set off to see what I could do! It was much easier than last year, running without a bee sting on my foot (last year I trod on a bee at the swim start; it was not pleased and nor was I!) I caught Jessie for 4th place before the end of lap 1 – I must have done OK on the bike after all… I didn’t want to lose my position though, so couldn’t ease off. Although cramp was setting into my legs, especially when I skidded on some mud and had to correct myself, I ended hopping and stretching my hamstring for a few 100m down the trail!
But soon enough the finish came, the clock was still under 3 hours (check!) and there was Cat enthusiastically cheering me in! I felt a bit bad for all the spectators caught in the rain storm but it didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm, and now the sun was out again :-D I was pleased with 4th place – the same position, but 6 minutes quicker than last year, and against stronger competition and more difficult conditions. All my pink ribbons had stayed on the bike, and hopefully I did Katie proud.
Congratulations to the podium girls – Helena who finally took 1st place on the run, Brigitta who held on for 2nd, and Carina returning from injury in 3rd. Jessie also held on for a career best in 5th place. This leaves me in 3rd place in the European Tour standings, with Switzerland and France to come in the next 2 weeks! No time to rest…
All watermarked photos credit Akis Magalios Photography
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