Full results                                                                               

Just a little something to keep the triathlon addicts going till the weekend! I'll come back and add some pictures when I get some. It was a great trip, the Maresme area is a superb location for a race and the organisation was terrific. We never had such a good time at any race I don't think.

Thirty men stand in a line looking out as the sun creeps up over the horizon, waves roll in gently a few feet ahead. Hot air balloons rise above and eyes fix on the twinkling of the light illuminating the first turn buoy. A gun shot sounds and they scramble for the water, falling and diving over one another in to the surf.

I went as fast as I could, concentrate on pulling hard but not hard enough to stay with the leaders as usual but I'm used to this. I knew I could go harder when I caught myself taking in the idyllic Costa Brava sun rise on the return leg but with little time to gain here I stayed on some feet and came out in around 53min less than 2min down on the race favorite, 4 time Ironman France winner and local legend Marcel Zamora.

For the first time I had decided to race, in other words go as hard as I had to to get in contention for a podium. The bike course was fast, undulating in sections but with a lot of flat riding. After the short winding section through the town I put the hammer down and rode the next 40k in about 57min so pretty hard  but approaching the turn I saw the leaders within striking distance. Catching a bunch at around 70k I recognised Xavier LeFloch and Luke Dragstra so I settled down knowing I was with the main group riding at  their pace taking the lead when the speed dropped to much for my liking.

At the 64k turnabout my back wheel slides out and I realise to me dismay my disc wheel has been loosing air. Can I make it through the race without stopping? We plough through the second lap passing a few Brits, one relay rider even joinded us for a while who later on turned out to be tweenster from Tritalk.

It was becoming a struggle to handle the bike on the roundabouts and I would never make it back through the town section in one piece. Over half way now and still riding with the group it breaks my heart but I stop and inspect, it’s soft but not punctured I think, CO2, solid, lets go. But the guys have long gone, my plan had worked and I had put in a great effort to catch them but now it had gone pear shaped. I was by the roadside for less than 2min but my average speed has now dropped from 40.5kph when I caught them to less than 40kph. I put the hammer down again and to my surprise catch Luke after about 15k but he’d fallen off the back of the pack. I settle down realising I probably wont be able to catch the others again and start thinking about the run.

I come off the bike in a group of about 4  that formed close to the end posting a 4:33 bike split. Checking the Garmin I see we’re running 35min 10k pace! Too fast! Slow down let the testosterone junkies do their thing and a 400m gap slowly grows as I settle down to just under 4min k pace but eventually it stopped growing. The run was 4 loops out on the exposed coast road with the sun beating down and the temperature rising above 25oC it would be pacing that would get me in the money I hoped. So as sure as the sea is salty at 20k they all started coming back to me. One by one they were all coming back and I could here the cash register ching as they came past and my confidence grew. Approaching the last 5k I came up to 4th and could see Bernd Eichhorn at the turn less than 800m ahead. At the final turn I was still running strong, just over 4min ks and Bernd is loosing more ground, he can’t be more than a few hundred meters away I thought. The last k is the longest of them all, the markers which would lead you to believe the course was short were wrong, the course was not short so the last k was closer to two. My legs wouldn’t give me a 3min k though and after I took a wrong turn in the transition area section Bernd got a deserved 3rd and I was delighted to jog the finish chute with a Saltire from Jen cheering me on.

An 8:26:35 was great and I was very satisfied to race well when I went as hard on the bike. Felix from Chalenge and a local official were there to greet us crossing the finish and I went for a massage and an alcohol free beer. We spent some time chatting to other athletes and watching some get wheeled past in chairs. Later that night we came back and watched the final finishers who were welcomed by some spectacular if slightly macabre fire dancers and music. The day after it was my first awards ceremony, long and hot but a lot of fun shaking hands with top athletes like Zamora. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, if your not Kona bound this could be the race for you if you want some early winter sun! It’s also worth remembering that they celebrate Oktoberfest in Callela which was a boon for the Scotts. We were there till the wee hours on Monday and for the first time my head is in more pain than my legs 2 days after a big race!