22/09/2010
As the competitors rounded the course and
huffed and puffed I was pretty sure that I saw a chap with a video
camera on his head…
L'Equipe Tri-City-Athlon video
…I wasn't totally sure and completely forgot until yesterday
when I was sent a link by one of our participants. If you haven't
yet quite got the idea of the event, check out the video via the
link above.
For all those who competed; it brings it back doesn't it?
22/09/2010
Dear Eurostar
Tri-City-Athlon Team,
A week later I have had time to reflect on the amazing event you
put together for us last week. From the moment I found out
about it I knew that whoever had the chance to compete would be
extremely lucky, and I only hoped that it would be me. I
could never have realised how motivational and unique the event was
going to be and it was probably one of the best days of my
life. Thank you so much for everything all the separate teams
involved put in to make this event happen, for making it so
fantastic throughout and for the opportunity to achieve what I did
on the day. The doors that have now opened in my mind are
doors I never would have anticipated and opportunities that
couldn't have arisen in any other way.
I have written a race report for my friends and family and
attached some photos, I thought you might like to read bits of
it. It's probably the best way for me to give my run-down of
the day.
Many thanks, I really had such an amazing time and as my first
triathlon it was a spectacular way to start my triathlon
career. Yes, I will be doing more!
Thanks
Sophie.
-----------------------------
Monday 13th September
LONDON - arrive at St Pancras and
immediately feel the air of excitement and buzz amongst the
competitors, organisers and supporters. We are invited into
the business class lounge and begin the getting to know each other
process that inevitably begins with what's your story?
Alongside the 20 competitors from each country who had been
selected by a combination of voting and judges, places had been
opened up for Eurostar's Carte Blanche holders, their top clients
and Eurostar employees. So, it was fun to hunt out which
background people came from and if they had been selected, why it
was. Hence the 'what's your story?' question. Answers ranged from a
head teacher in a deprived area of Leeds wanting to motivate his
pupils, to someone who challenged herself to an Ironman on her 30th
birthday to prove middle aged women can do it too (she doesn't have
children however!)
On-board the Eurostar, it was bliss, time to relax, eat and
enjoy the buzz. In business class of course¦
PARIS-
At 11pm I was tucked up in bed in Paris having
separated all my kit into 3 plastic bags, one for each event and
all labelled with a big number 50 - my race number. Very
excited and having packed and re-packed my kit I tried to get some
sleep.
Tuesday 14th September
@ 4:30am, my alarm goes off for my designated
hour of getting ready and focusing. I had planned to spend some
time going through the race in my head, the motions and how I
wanted to feel whilst racing, before the day began as I knew I
wouldn't get any moments to myself later. When I woke I was
exhausted and my eyes felt so tired so I only managed about 15mins
in the end before I went downstairs for breakfast.
7am - By the time I had my wetsuit on and was
walking up to the start of the race in Basin de La Villette, I felt
completely ready and once more I was excited and couldn't wait to
start the swim and see how I would fare.
The 2nd person out of 150 to jump in the water, I
found it warmer than my last open water swim in the UK and I
eagerly headed to the start line. The race was awesome, it
took me 23:49mins and I tried my best to make every stroke
count. The start was interesting and it felt like loads of
swimmers overtook me but I didn't pay any attention. My only
focus was settling into as fast and strong a pace as I could so I
could swim efficiently and get to the finish. An experienced
tri-athlete and Ironman had said to me a few hours earlier "Don't
forget to smell the roses!" so my other aim was to enjoy myself and
I did!
Once I had completed the second lap of the course and stayed in
front of the male competitors I had been pushing to overtake, I saw
the finish and made a sprint for it. I became really fidgety
once I knew the finish was close, almost like I was so looking
forward to seeing the result and completing the first leg of the
race that I had to make myself calm down and focus on
swimming. Something like this - "Sophie, you're only going to
get there if you get your head down and swim so get on with
it!"
Seconds later I was hauling myself out of the water and had to
run down the blue carpet to the finish line. After calming my
breathing down and grabbing a bottle of
Powerade I looked around and noticed there were
not very many competitors this side of the finish line. J
I instantly grabbed my camera for a post race photo with the U23
World Champion tri-athlete and his brother. The smile on my face
says it all. I finished in 3rd position.
BRUSSELS
11am - After inhaling another breakfast and as
much water and orange juice I could get my hands on, I was dressed
and 'race ready' by the time I stepped off the Eurostar in
Brussels. After a metro ride and a quick walk, we were at the
start of the bike race and found all our bikes lined up in
numerical order. I was so happy to see my bike there and in
perfect condition (having dropped it off in London with the
Eurostar 2 days earlier), final preparations began and at 12:15 I
found myself at the start line preparing for another mass start.
The funny thing was minutes before the start I was advising another
competitors on the best way to navigate a hilly course (turns out
she won the whole competition!) She still said my advice was
helpful!
The bike race was my biggest achievement of the day. The first
time I cycled at race speed was 6 weeks prior and I have improved
so much since then. The early mornings and late evenings
racing up and down hills in Richmond park, feeling myself improve
and love what I was doing really paid dividends in the race.
My main focus was to relax and feel confident and with a tricky
course to navigate these would be crucial.
The 40Km cycle took me 1hr 18mins and was helped by the fact
that by now I had a few supporters who were encouraging me. The
only thing I cared about was staying ahead of most of the girls and
I feel I held the fort well by finishing in 5th
position. As I crossed the finish line I was handed a medal
and all of a sudden I found I couldn't breathe, it felt like
something was restricting my throat. I thought I might have been
having a bit of a panic attack so i just tried to steady my
breathing and limp over to put my bike back on its stand. (I
was limping because I had a crash on lap 4 on the tram
tracks). With a mixture of sweat and tears running down my
face I tried to calm down, adjust my body to the end of the race
and hold it together to save face in front of all my new
friends. I don't think I realised how much I pushed myself
until I stopped pushing. I will get much better at this once
I learn how to race in the future.
LONDON
3pm - Back on the Eurostar I was exhausted and
faced with the worst of the 3 events. The 10K run. The
tram tracks in the bike race had taken a few other competitors
victims, breaking one guy's wrist and another girl had
concussion. Lucky it wasn't raining or it would have been
worse!
I tried to inhale another meal but half way through my lasagne I
realised my slot for a sports massage had arrived and I raced
through 5 carriages to find my masseuse! Wow! I thought
it was some kind of joke when they offered massages, but they were
deadly serious :)
By the time we arrived in London my Mum had been eagerly waiting
for me in Regents Park for over an hour and saw me walking down the
road having my bag carried for me. I think I've done well
when Olympic Athlete Iwan Thomas offers to carry my bag!
6:30pm the race begins! This time my only
aim was simple - get to the finish line asap. Run hard and run home
and pray my knee injury didn't cause me too much grief. The race
was 3 laps and I felt great for the first half. The second
half was not so good but the support and drive that having my
friends and family there
gave me was
incredible.
This time, the smiles on their faces said it all.
Each time I passed I gained a burst of energy from them and I
thought about them until I saw them again. 52mins later I
crossed the finish line of my 1st triathlon and surrounded by all
the people I had been thinking about I felt relieved and immensely
happy.
2 days later I found out my overall result of
5th out of the women and 65th altogether out of 120
competitors. Thanks so much for reading this if you have got
this far! And for all your support and encouragement.
It's ridiculous how much it helps you when it comes to crunch
time.
Sophie Roberts
15/09/2010
We know how eager our athletes are to see how they've done so
please find attached the final results for all competitors who
completed the three sections.
The results
15/09/2010
And what a race it was! For a London 2012 activation event it
certainly packed a punch and the elites and the celebrities
certainly egged each other on to the end.
The event also really opened my eyes to the contrast in the
stages, what with strong swimmers dropping back on the bike. You
definitely see the difference in the events that require the arms
vs the legs as well.
The run section of the Tri-City-Athlon, the one that most
competitors felt most confident about, saw our by now slightly
aching entrants complete 3 laps of Regent's Park, passing by London
Zoo and the various ponds and lakes that the Royal grounds are made
up of.
Unlike the swim and cycle sections, it was now becoming evident
that there were certain groups of individuals in the field that
would position themselves near the front for the start of the run
as they would almost certainly be leading out the pack, and this
certainly came true as the runners left the spectator area to the
tune of the London Community Gospel Choir and large rounds of
applause.
The first couple of hundred metres was definitely a loosener for
some as they stretched out their legs and found their pace and as
with both the previous legs, the competing pack stretched out
relatively quickly and were back round the course within 10
minutes, hardly time for the spectators to don their fancy dress
costumes for the mini-challenge we'd laid on for them to get in the
spirit of the event.
By the second lap the front runners were looking ahead to the
tail-enders and using them as a target to pick up the pace. As to
be expected this also gave the lesser paced competitors a gee up
and as the rain trickled down they certainly did that, which
stopped the weather from dampening anyone's spirits!
Within 20 minutes, and to many people's astonishment we were
preparing ourselves for the first finisher and just 14minutes
later our winner, Jonny Brownlee crossed the line to loud applause
and cheers, the first Tri-City-Athlete to complete the run
course.
But that wasn't the loudest cheer, as our 130 continued to cross
the line to shouts and cheers from the impressed crowd.
Once the competitors had crossed the line and as is customary
for any event where we have our French colleagues involved,
Champagne was handed to all competitors, which was taken by many as
a shot of water, such was the thirst they'd built up.
All competitors managed to finish the race by just after 7.30pm
and the winning competitors were presented their medals,
subsequently followed by a serenade from the choir.
14/09/2010
14/09/2010
14/09/2010
6 laps of a park doesn't sound like much on paper, but when each
lap is over 6km each it definitely does take some effort, and
especially as our competitors have been up since just after 5am and
completed a 1500metre swim already.
Most of the competitors arrived into Brussels on a high from the
train journey and the thought of a second challenge, many of the
competitors now exchanging stories of how they came to take part
and their Tri-athlon experience to date.
The transition from
arrival in Brussels Midi to the stadium for the cycle was a little
different to the journey they were probably expected, as we decided
to enlist the help of the Brussels Metro to whisk them beneath the
traffic to the event location.
We arrived at the King Baudoin Stadium at around midday having
dominated the underground. All competitors looking very smart if I
do say so myself, with a mixture of bespoke Eurostar
Tri-City-Athlon kit, kindly provided by Adidas and their yellow
Eurostar lanyards.
The bike event kicked off at 12.40pm and was a bit of an unknown
for the Eurostar team as we weren't entirely sure how the main
group would pan out, especially as the event follows official
Olympic Triathlon guidelines which prohibits drafting (definition
of drafting: whereby one competitor takes advantage of the
slipstream of a cyclist in front)
14/09/2010
Our unique event kicked off in style this morning with my wake
up call at 4am. Only joking, of course the pinnacle of the morning
was the start of the swim leg of the Eurostar Tri-City-Athlon.
After a quick check over the setup of the course I turned to be
overwhelmed by the sight of 140 competitors, braving the brisk
Parisian air in their wetsuits following their 5.15am breakfast,
who'd made the short journey from the hotel to the Bassin de la
Villette to complete the 1500metre swim leg.
At 7.26am, and as expected. the sun poked it's head over the Arc
de Triomphe and 4 minutes later the swim was underway. A
surprisingly large number of spectators and an impressive gaggle of
media cheered 140 bobbing white swimming caps as the brave athletes
underneath them battled for position along the length of the swim
course.
As the race progressed the 140-strong group stretched out into a
long line, with the customary rising heads (checking they are still
following the right course) often displaying grimaces, but also the
odd smile. For the top competitors in the swim section, this leg
took only 17 minutes and THEO REBEYROTTE, our
first finisher, appeared relaxed and refreshed as they exited the
water.
The final swimmer, not to be named here of course, exited the
water just after 8.15am and although their arms were certainly
burning from their endeavour (and lactic acid) they told us, in
between catching their breath, that they thoroughly enjoyed the
challenge and were looking forward to having a nice sit down during
the next leg of the event. I'm not sure you can quite call a 40km
bike ride a 'sit down' but hey, at least they are being
positive.
Following their exit from the water, the competitors dried
themselves down and jumped chattily back on to the Tri-City coach
and made their way to Paris Gare du Nord for the transition by
chartered Eurostar to Brussels at 9.30am. Only 3 hours after
leaving Paris they will be mounting their trusty cycles for the
bike leg of the event.
I could sense an almost electric buzz in the air from all
involved, it will be really interesting to see whether the leading
swimmers will carry that advantage through the cycle. It's a pretty
strong field for the Brussels leg, and I know for a fact that we
have a competitor in there who once held the land speed record on a
mountain bike so it's definitely still an open contest.
I'll have a further update for you from Brussels at around 3pm
BST. To be continued……
09/09/2010
The 'Closing ceremony' in Regent's Park
![serpentine_lake_hyde_park_open_water_swimming_1[1]](/media/2083848/serpentine_lake_hyde_park_open_water_swimming_1[1]_192x143.jpg)
As we move within a week
of the event it's really getting exciting here at Eurostar HQ. Our
internal competitors have been nipping off to the Serpentine, Hyde
Park for lunchtime open water practice, and Chris, who we featured
back in an earlier post has even simulated the Tri-City-Athlon,
(without the train bit) across the 12 hour period.
We've also had stories one of the competitors who has
actually taken swimming lessons to build up their confidence ahead
of the Paris morning event, so there really is a spectrum of
participants and we wish each and every one of you the best of
luck.
Alongside organising an event as unique and challenging as this
we have also been organising a 'closing ceremony' for the event
which will take place in Regent's Park in the evening.
Now, I can tell you now that Beijing can rest easy,
we won't quite be spending the billions that they invested, however
we feel that the event will definitely do justice to the nature of
the Tri-City-Athlon and really bring to life what will have been a
unique and memorable day.
The Eurostar Tri-City-Athlon 'Closing ceremony' will consist of
the following:
Performances from The
London Community Gospel Choir & The Three Cities (3 piece
band)
Cadbury's Spots v Stripes team will be
there with their latest activities and plenty of chocolate.
'Star bar' & 'The Hub' serving
soft and alcoholic drinks
The Mini-Triathlon; 3 sporting
challenges for a chance to win a Tri-City prize.
Big screen with race highlights and
live race coverage
Live commentary throughout the final
leg