At the end of September this year I travelled to Molveno, Italy, to race in the Xterra World championships at the full distance race. Which would be my first off road triathlon race at an international level and only my second I have done after Weston Park earlier this year where I qualified for my slot in this race. Thank you very much for the generous support of the Jack Bloor Fund and Trustees for helping to make the trip possible.
I was incredibly excited to race on what looked like an incredibly picturesque, tough and exciting course, in one of the clearest lakes I have seen and some of the most amazing mountains my main aims due to being a relatively new discipline to me being to perform my best and enjoy myself.
My swim set me off to a good start, I managed to follow the slightly faster swimmers ahead, allowing me to exit the water in 8th place, placing me well as I went through transition and then out onto my two laps of the bike course.
Due to incredibly wet weather in the days beforehand the bike course was incredibly tough, with some uphill sections so boggy it was rendered almost unrideable, and the mud was sticking to my tyres and blocking up my bike frame leading to an uphill which was a combination of riding and hopping off the bike to run through the sections with no traction. The downhill then started off on a well-maintained trail where I could gain time back on people, before leading into a challenging section on more slippery mud. Once back in the town there was a combination of stairs, drops and ramps around the transition area, which was a very fun sector before the lap started again.
Unfortunately, on my second lap during the uphill section my bike became too clogged with mud, leading to my chain repeatedly coming off my front chainring. Despite this I managed to find a gear where the chain would stay on and get to the top of the hill and then tackle the descent to bring me to the end of the ride.
I felt good on lap one of my 10km run, settling in on the flats, pushing the uphill and navigating myself through the technical section. My second run lap started similarly, but in the steep uphill my efforts on the bike caught up with me, with my quads starting to cramp. However, I carried on pushing and managed to hold the cramp off to get to the finish.
Overall, this was probably the toughest race I have ever completed, with the extreme conditions presenting unexpected challenges. While I placed slightly lower than hoped, finishing 12th in my age group is a result I’m proud of. I had a lot of fun, pushed my skills to the limit, and look forward to competing in more Xterra races in the future.
Thank you once again to the Jack Bloor Fund and Trustees for supporting my goals and making this amazing trip possible.
Jack Bloor Race & Fund 