I had been looking forward to this race for a long time, I won it last year and the announcement that it was to be the British Cross Tri Championship this year made it a big target race for me this year.
Athletes from all over the UK attended, including several other pro Xterra racers. The race was covered by the BBC’s Adventure show so there were plenty of film cameras around the race site at St Mary’s Loch. I had a pre race interview with a presenter of the show asking about the course and conditions and potential rivals!
swim Conditions were wet, with rain showers during the morning. The race started at 2.30pm in the 16 °C loch. I swam hard at the start to gain a good position in the field and before long forgot about the cold. I exited the water in a good position.
bike My transition was unfortunately quite slow, and the cameras were there again, but I set out on the mountain bike course 3rd female, about 30 seconds behind the two leaders. The rain was quite heavy, but that suited me as I don’t mind a muddy MTB course! I caught and passed the other two females fairly easily on the first climb, and continued to push hard for the whole bike course in order to gain as much time advantage as possible before the run. I ended up in the river on the first lap in the river crossing, and at some point lost my water bottle so became slightly dehydrated as the race progressed. The downhills were fast and varied between rocky tracks and boggy slopes, but I kept focussed and enjoyed the course too.
I came into T2 with around a 9 minute lead over 2nd place (although I didn’t know at the time), and set off for the 10k run course. This was flat beside the loch for the first half (with a few stiles to climb over) then up a fire track through the forest for a long climb to the top of the hill. I kept running as fast as I could (difficult up the hill!) and was relieved when I reached the top without being caught!
run I enjoyed the final descent back to the finish, down a track across the moor with the transition field in sight, and was very happy to finish in first place and take the British Champion title!
After another interview, I could relax and enjoy the evening with the presentations and the hog roast and a good chance to catch up with Xterra friends!
Athletes from all over the UK attended, including several other pro Xterra racers. The race was covered by the BBC’s Adventure show so there were plenty of film cameras around the race site at St Mary’s Loch. I had a pre race interview with a presenter of the show asking about the course and conditions and potential rivals!
swim Conditions were wet, with rain showers during the morning. The race started at 2.30pm in the 16 °C loch. I swam hard at the start to gain a good position in the field and before long forgot about the cold. I exited the water in a good position.
bike My transition was unfortunately quite slow, and the cameras were there again, but I set out on the mountain bike course 3rd female, about 30 seconds behind the two leaders. The rain was quite heavy, but that suited me as I don’t mind a muddy MTB course! I caught and passed the other two females fairly easily on the first climb, and continued to push hard for the whole bike course in order to gain as much time advantage as possible before the run. I ended up in the river on the first lap in the river crossing, and at some point lost my water bottle so became slightly dehydrated as the race progressed. The downhills were fast and varied between rocky tracks and boggy slopes, but I kept focussed and enjoyed the course too.
I came into T2 with around a 9 minute lead over 2nd place (although I didn’t know at the time), and set off for the 10k run course. This was flat beside the loch for the first half (with a few stiles to climb over) then up a fire track through the forest for a long climb to the top of the hill. I kept running as fast as I could (difficult up the hill!) and was relieved when I reached the top without being caught!
run I enjoyed the final descent back to the finish, down a track across the moor with the transition field in sight, and was very happy to finish in first place and take the British Champion title!
After another interview, I could relax and enjoy the evening with the presentations and the hog roast and a good chance to catch up with Xterra friends!
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