Out of the blue a couples of months ago I got a message on Instagram from a French Team asking if I wanted to race for them in some French Grand Prix races. I was unsure to start with as I knew nothing about French GP racing so of course I asked the boss JD what I should do. We decided that it would be a great opportunity to have as we did not know what to expect.
French GP racing is rather prestigious in the Triathlon community with many such as the Brownlee’s and Gomez racing for teams when they were younger. In GP racing, there are 3 divisions with Div1 being the highest one. Many elites race div1, last weekend we had the chance to watch the div1 guys and girls race and it was seriously impressive; even the mid field people in div1 guys race would kick butt at British races. My team was (thankfully) in division 2. What division you are in is dependent on what team you are with and what division they are with.
So this race was going to a new experience for me for many reasons, it was my first race internationally not in GB or Canada, It was my first sprint distance- double anything I have ever done before (yes I know a sprint isn’t that long compared to the crazy people in this club that do like double ironman’s but for me it was looooong). Also, we had no idea of how the race worked until we got there – but my whole life of plans changing constantly and not knowing what I am doing the next hour had prepared me for this. Also, there is no age limit in GP racing so I was racing people who were 10 or 20 years older than me, I was pretty much the youngest person in my race.
Because it was a new distance I didn’t exactly know how to race it. In my normal races, I have the “All gas, no brakes” attitude. And this is how I also tackled the sprint distance. However, 64mins of full gas racing have left me a bit dead.
The Swim
Open water swims and Isla have an infamous relationship. I love open water and I would consider my open water stronger than my pool swimming however, during my usual British Super Series Races I get knocked about and dunked so I always swim slowly but this was not the case this time!
The Start- on the pontoon we lined up in our teams, almost without warning the gun went off and we all dived in. I had a strong start but as most people who have ever been in an Open water swim would know you just cannot tell what you position is. I got the buoy (pronounced- boo-ee) and I once I got around it I looked up and I was at the front of the swim! Found a pair of feet to sit on until the end (shout out to Callum Byrne and Graeme Neagle that let me practice sitting on feet the week before this race- it really helped J) At the swim exit I stood up fifth but right with the leaders. It was a 400m run to transition which was a pretty much a sprint to get right up with the first girl. Got to T1 found my bike and started to run… mounted my bike got my shoes on and then realise ‘oh I am at the front of this race’ I actually had to wait for the girls to catch up but once they did it was full gas.
The Bike
The bike was so fast. I was with 5 other girls and they were strong. If you have ever raced with me you would know I am not a wheel blagger, I hate to sit in the pack and I tend to dominate bike packs- Which is not always a good thing. On reflection, one thing I wish I did during this race was sit in the group more. There were 3 “demi tours” and 7 60 and 90 degree turns per lap and we had 5 laps to do. The girls in my group were so strong on the flat but slow round the bends so I would always take the lead around the bends and get a 3-5m gap out of almost every turn. The bike went surprisingly quick it defiantly didn’t feel like 32mins. Got off the bike and ran into T2, however, my feet were numb from the swim and I was a ‘chopper’- I couldn’t get my feet in my run shoes.
The Run
I came out onto the run 3rd but quickly got myself into 2nd. The run was 2 laps the first was good, I kept a constant gap to first and was pulling away from the girl in 3rd. There was a hill on each lap and me, being 46kg meant I would almost close the gap to the girl in 1st but then on the downhill she would pull away again. The second lap of the run was just a suck it and suffer lap, I was not going to let this 2nd place slip away and just tried to move my butt to the finish line as fast I could. Eventually the finish line came and I couldn’t help but smile.
I am still smiling 🙂
Turns out I was about the only 2003 in the race and many of the girls were in there 20s and some even compete in world and European cup races. It was such an insane opportunity, just so many unknowns and new things to adapt to and I am so lucky and grateful to have the chance to race this.
Lastly just a thank you to JD for coming to France with me and putting up with the craziness and letting me have chicken nuggets after the race. And thank you to everyone at the club for being my training buddies and everyone’s kind messages.
