Race 4 Division 2 Grand Prix rendezvous Mimizan.

Ok let me just give a little background, then tell the race story.

In France the first division grand prix series consists of 16 teams. After the 5 race season the bottom two teams are kicked out for the following year. The 13^th and 14^th teams must prove they belong in the first division, by racing in the grand finale at La Baule. In La Baule the remaining division 1 teams are joined by 2 teams from the second division. If one of the second division teams beats the 13^th or 14^thteam they gain entry to the first division, and relegate the bottom team to the second division.

Last year the French Triathlon Federation decided to consolidate the second division, as previously it had no real structure. They invited any interested clubs to submit their teams for a revamped, similar to first division grand prix series. To the horror of the French Federation 42 clubs submitted teams. Way more than they anticipated. With no exclusion criteria set for this season they have left all 42 clubs in the division. As with the first division, the top 16 will stay. The top two teams after 4 races gain automatic entry to the first division while the 3^rd and 4^th fight it out at La Baule.

As you can well imagine it is very cut throat.

Race conditions in Mimizan could only be described as flat fast and hot. It took until the final hour before the race to work out if it was a wetsuit legal swim and a further 15 minutes to locate my wetsuit and the rest of my race kit, which was in the team van, which was conveniently bogged in the car park. None of the team knew where it was! This left a rushed preparation, which included my tri bars being rejected from the race for an inadequate bridge piece. I was not too worried by all of this as my biggest concern was the start of the swim. I had been thinking of this for a while now. 42 teams of 5, makes 210 athletes on the start line. Now that may sound ok as many triathlons have this many or more, but there was a difference. In this race there were no hack triathletes. No guys who would be taking it easy in the water. In division 2 this year were actually 5 teams from the last years first division, Olympians, and world champions. If the first turn can was less than 200m off shore there may be death!!

In the team brief by our manager for the race (Rodolphe Boutier) I learned that the swim start area would be divided into 42 boxes. Each team could select which box they started in and due to the numbering, we were the second pick. We eventually agreed that the far right box had the best line to the first swim can and would give us some free space. It was after the warm up and while standing in our box that the unfairness of French racing really hit home. The turn can was off to the right, and the start area was like a concave type shape, not a straight line. Not the best, but nothing to really worry about. It did make it very difficult for the teams in the middle bays. Some of the teams decided not to take their box choice, but rather start on the right of us, outside the box area. One team was ok but then another and another came over and before we knew it there were at least 30 guys standing to out right, out of the start area. The youngest guy on our team, Pierre Guilloux said something about the situation to one of the many officials, and was nearly disqualified. Madness! Why have the boxes at all?

No one was permitted to warm up in the start area of the swim, not a problem for most of the French as they do no warm up anyway. When the whistle blew I ran to about knee deep water and then dove out as far as I could. I did not know the depth but thought it may drop away pretty quick. It did, leaving a bit of a pile of athletes mess behind me. I sprinted, mostly due to fear of being drowned, and tried to head to the right as quick as I could. To my left I could see a few guys leading that side of the swim and to my right was no one. At about 150m there was a guide buoy that I thought I had to stay the left of. I was way too far to the right so changed course to get around it. About 2 meters from the buoy I was still too wide but was trapped by a guy who had moved up on my left. I pushed into him, lost some speed and was instantly swam over by the person who was on my feet. And then I think by the next. Now I was under the water and under the can, desperate for air. I pushed to the surface and found I was smack against the inside rope of the swim course. Still getting hit I grabbed it and pulled myself along it to get back to some clear water. I got around the main turn can without incident and sat on the back of what I thought was the lead pack, exiting the swim in 15^th.

I had a pretty ordinary transition, slow may be a better word, and headed out on the bike further behind. After about 2km of all out, kill yourself riding I tacked on to the back of four others. In the process I had dragged one other guy who, as much as I yelled at him, would not help. The six of us were now the second pack, with nine guys about 15 seconds in front of us. For the rest of the 20km ride this gap stayed about the same. In the last 5 km I was of the mindset that there was no need to catch this group as I was feeling comfortable in the small group, and

everyone was working. Catching the lead pack may instigate a serious breakaway, and we had put time into the packs behind us. When I say packs behind us, that is what I thought at the time. I learnt after the race the ‘packs’ behind were actually one massive peleton, with about 90 riders taking up the whole road for about 250m. (the 3 small photos are the first 3 of 5 photos that Cameron took of this bunch)

We entered transition for the run just as the last guy from the front bunch was running out,

about 10 seconds behind him. I ran out quick, but not stupidly quick. I felt good and wanted to build into this run. I was second out onto the run from our group, lead by a guy from Czech Republic. I did not see the other guys from the second pack again, and after about 1 km was starting to catch and pass the slower runners from the front pack. I was happy with the strength I felt on the run until the last 1km where I really started to tire. I had now been training for 5 weeks, not a great deal of time, and I could feel that. I think I ran the last 500m looking back more that to the front. This was a common sight as people are trying to keep their place and care little for time. The gap to the guy in front of me was about 3 seconds, painfully just too far, while the gap to the guy behind me was 8 seconds, just painfully too close. I crossed the finish line in fifth. Not overly happy, but happy to have lived through the swim.

I later learned the winner of the race had finished third in the world under 23 last year, and had beaten the French champ who was fifth in the Olympics. The Czech, Premsyl Svarc, from the second pack ran his way up to second, while former world Champion, and duel Olympian Oliver Marceau was third.

The French guys in the team were stoked. They had all been in the big bunch, watching guys crash around them. Places were sorted on the run with Laurent Triquet running into 12^th,

Herman Landemaine 39^th, Pierre 64^th and Guen Dupas 79^th. Team points are calculated by the first three across the line, so the French boys were even happier to learn that as a team we had finished 4^th. They packed their stuff up and rode back to the hotel for showers, chatting and laughing. As there was still another race with Adam and Cameron racing, I stayed to help them then rolled over to the race site to look at the results, now posted. TOC

Cesson Sevigne were third! I asked an official and he confirmed it, we had placed third. He then proceeded to tell me that the team had been fined for not being present on the podium. Love those French rules.