Blog

Home soil! Xterra England

26th Aug 2014

This was the Xterra I was most looking forward to and hoping to do well in- in front of a home crowd and without any travel stress…

England's bike trails- purpose built for Xterra

My Xterra England adventure began a few weeks ago- on a typical British summer’s day (i.e. raining!) when I went to look at the course, and hopefully help Sam with trail building. I know a LOT of work went in to get it ready for race day with the vegetation to be cleared… My small contribution felt like acting something out of Ghostbusters, operating a jetpack-powered leaf blower! Quite fun though ;)

It looked like this was going to be my favourite bike course: lots of tight, technical twists and turns, log jumps, banks and ditches. No opportunity to rest the legs or the brain! You would definitely need good handling skills to do well, but for a change nothing un-rideable for me. The run was also my favourite type of course- a nice, fast, cross country route with some fun obstacles (more ditch and log jumps!) and yes hills, but no crazy mountainous climbs that reduce everyone to walking. Bring on race day!

Mike and Shula checking out transition

I thought I’d be nervous on the day, but didn’t really have time- with so many familiar faces to chat to. Banter with Paul in the car, friends Mike and Sharkie from TVT were racing, and our other halves all spectating or marshalling (yes- Mr Fox talked himself into getting up at 5am to marshal the whole event!) and my good friend Cat who cycled over to support (thanks Cat!) As well as all the friends I know from the Xterra ‘family’ from other races…

It was a lovely day at Vachery pond, although I didn’t have the best start to the race. 22:29 is a respectable swim but it didn’t feel great, and I hoped to be higher up the field. Still, it’s mainly about the bike, so lets’ make the next part count as much as possible!

I was glad I’d recce’d the trail, but it’s a little different at full speed and slightly dizzy after the swim! The course looped back to transition several times, which was great for spectators, and also for the riders to keep getting encouragement. Simon’s teacher voice is always the easiest to pick out- “go on wife!” or similar! I avoided being caught by Mike or Sharkie so knew I must have had a reasonable ride… only one small crash into a tree ;)

Trying to hold my place on the bike

Now to see if I could move up the field on the run…
In the first km we encountered the famous Vachery ditch jump- I was glad of my long jump practise in school (20 years ago?!)- as it was a huge gap for a small person to clear! The return ditch was even wider and meant I had to use the log crossing...

Fun on the run! Ditch crossing #1

On the second lap I started passing other girls, but most were only on their 1st lap, so I wasn’t gaining places. Are there any other Pros to catch, or are they miles ahead? Finally with 2km to go I passed a girl I recognised from the bike (I’m later told this was Jessie Roberts who raced for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games MTB! And she could sure ride…) I was happy to improve my position, but still had no idea where I was in the field.
Into the finishing straight, I’m just hoping I’ve done enough to achieve my aim of top 7!

More fun on the run- giant log jump!

Post-race recovery was pretty enjoyable… the sun is still shining, BBQ’s are going, the red arrows are flying over for an air display- and it’s a great atmosphere to chill out in. We’ve been lucky with the Great British weather! I’m happy for my friends who have all done so well- Jacqui was top Brit in 4th, Brigitta close behind in 5th, and Helena who always does amazing finished 2nd. In the AG field both Sharkie and Mike gave a good account of themselves- hopefully we can encourage more from TVT to try an offroad race next year ;)

It seems a long wait for the results- but the good news is I scraped into 7th place! 2nd Brit behind Jacqui which was my other aim. I celebrate with a jacket potato and salad, which Paul ridicules for being topped with blueberries and raspberries. I’ve never known such a fruit/veg-averse athlete in my life! But we will let him off as his team did win the relay ;)

A successful day by all, and successful event thanks to the hard work put in by Sam Gardner!! I’m sure Xterra England is going to be even bigger and better next year when the team has all year to organise instead of just a month. I will be there :-D

Thanks to Lighttrapper for their ace pics I've used in this blog.