So I started out for Paris on Friday afternoon and I flew over with a bunch of GB athletes including Stuart, Will, Abbie and Adam who were also racing on Saturday and also the support crew of Michelle, Sarah and Clare. As always they did a great job screaming from the sidelines, but under strict instructions from my sister Carrie, Sarah (AKA Marry Poppins) forgot the carmera, but she made up for it with having to get up at 4.30am to watch the 6.00am start! LOL.
The flight went fine and I met Cedrick (Possiy coach) at the airport and went back to his parents house were I was truly spoilt (again) and was greeted by a lovely dinner, after which I near enough went to bed. Sleeping like a baby… until the mosquito incident where Kerry Lang decided the fill our room with mosquito spray in the middle of the night, (talk about choking, bloody things!) apart from that I slept pretty well.
On the Saturday me and Kerry took off for a little run and then back for breakfast, followed by swimming at the pool where I got to meet some more of the famous Poissy team. It was a very relaxed day, spending most of my time off my feet and getting ready for the race. We found the BEST baguette shop for lunch and then later went round to Martin’s house for a big Poissy team dinner, it was really nice to meet most of the team there. The women Poissy team consisted of Jodie Swallow (JS1), Kerry Lang, Erin Densham, Marine Bonnetaud, Jade Diemunsch, Berengere Abraham and me.
Race morning
Me and Jodie (JS1) set our alarms for 3:30am so we’d be ready to leave the hotel at 4.00am ahead of the bright and early start of 6:00am. With it still being pitch black outside, I went downstairs to the reception to get a coffee to have with my Powerbar performance bar (of course the chocolate flavour, anyone who knows me will know I do love my chocolate flavour, no matter what time it is) then Cedrick picked us up and down to the race venue we went.
I was quite cold on race morning but considering it was 4.30am, I think that’s probably about right! So, we set up transition and I went for a warm up, then down to the swim start. We had some entertainment at the swim start, where we were joined by some early morning boozers, that obviously hadn’t stopped partying yet. They decided when the girls were jumping into the river to get to the pontoon, that they wanted to joins us, three of the men tried to get past the marshalls, with one succeeded and jumped in with just his boxers on, but the marshalls managed to get him out before we started. Very funny at the time though.
The race was off and Berengere started off faster than everyone else and didn’t slow down, Abbie Thorrington was the only girl who could swim with her, but I had a good swim on Kerry Langs feet and swam the 750m course next to team mate Erin Densham. So, out of the water and with the long 300m run up to T1 I was up where I needed to be, so onto the bike and in the lead pack, but yet again, the bike was extremely slow for the whole 20k and, I just sat there and was quite happy to wait for the run.
I got into a good position going into T2 and got out of T2 in third place, as soon as you get onto the run course, it’s straight uphill, and at the top of the hill I found myself leading which is exactly the position I love to be in, and I stayed there for the full 5k. However… I was not alone, and as I was running found that Barbara Riveros was on my heels.
Coming onto the final 800m I found there was another person in our party, Emma Jackson (AUS). Barbara put the first surge in for the finish line, I reacted and took the final left turn to go up the 100m hill to the finish line, I had to dig real deep but was lactating to the max! It was a sprint finish between the threee of us and I ended up with the gold which I was chuffed with, and was greeted by my coach Michelle Dillon and Sarah Murphy as I crossed line. ChuffedChuffedChuffed.com
Check out the full results.
Now for next weekend, the London Hyde Park WCR, I want to end by saying a HUGE congratulations to Vicky Holland who got fifth at Hamburg on Sunday, a great result, well done Vicky!
Hope you all enjoy the race, whether you’re racing or spectating, watching it on the TV or cheering at the venue. Scream if you wanna go faster!
