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?

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.

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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 14^th 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 2^nd 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 5^th 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 65^th 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

The results

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.

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)

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……

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