I’m literally just on the train on the way back home from Manchester airport after a very busy (as always) last couple of weeks racing in Estonia and Germany. It seems ages ago I was sat here on the train with Desiree heading off to the new Star 111 race in Estonia. I had decided to race here after talking to Ain Alar Juhansen at Ironman Lanzarote earlier in the year, it seemed such an exciting race to go and do, somewhere I would not normally go and the distances, well, they seemed perfect to me!

So, we flew from Manchester to Riga via a very expensive hour in Copenhagen airport and then got picked up at the airport for a 3h drive across Latvia and Estonia to a small village just outside Tartu where the race was based. What a location it turned out to be too; Beautiful scenery, a perfect road surface to ride on, no traffic and a stunning lake in which to swim in. It was triathlon heaven. We went to dinner and could not believe how cheep the food was, and were not talking a greasy Joe’s here it was good food, and to see so many great athletes there supporting the event, Thomas Hellriegel and Chris McCormack to name just 2, it was always going to be a week to remember!

We did so many great things even before we got on the start line, there was a roller skiing marathon the day after the race so we borrowed some skates to see if we could get the hang of it in the hope we may toe the start line but it was to no avail, we were both useless and couldn’t even make it out of the car park never mind skate 15 or 39kms. We also took part in a zip line race – basically you hurl about 250m across some fields strapped to a zip wire, unclip yourself then run up this huge hill to another zip wire and clip on and fly back down to the start, it took me 2mins 30seconds in all and it was so much fun, everyone got really competitive and its something in definitely going to work on in the next year so I can come back next year and try and get in the top 3! It’s a wonder we didn’t get to the start on Saturday tired everything we did and the fun we had before the race even began!

So, race day and it was a very respectable 11am start. More race organizers need to take heed of this, no-one likes getting up at 4am and as I have now been branded a schleepyhead by Yvonne Van Vlerkken I could get used to later race starts! Everyone was talking about how fast the swim would be with it just been 1km but you have to realize that 100k on the bike is a long way so I was not so eager to swim flat out knowing it was supposed to be 35 degrees when we got to the run! I managed to start ok, nothing fantastic and by 500m found myself swimming tempo at the front which was perfect so I lead out of the water, hopped on my bike and did my best to follow Bjorn Andersson for as much of the bike as I could. He was just riding like the train he is and I had to go so hard just to follow him! I got dropped a few times and just about made it back to him but after 80kms the elastic snapped and he just flew away and got over 2 minutes on me in the last 20km, it is some of the best riding I have ever witnessed!

By the time the run came it was toasty hot and I think everyone walked every aid station it was brutal! I caught Bjorn at 3km of the run and I felt good but around km 5 I really did start to struggle and had to walk a section that was only about a 2% gradient but it was in the baking sun and just suicidal. I got to the drinks station after 7k and started to feel a bit better and pushed all the way in, I had no idea how fast I was running and some of those behind me looked really good, none more so than Desi who put in an awesome bike on her 1st race on her new Specialized Shivette and put in a run that I think many of the guys would have been proud of to get 9th OVERALL winning the woman’s race by a comfortable margin! It was such a good feeling coming into the finishing shoot 1st for the first time this year and it was so good that I had managed to overcome some daemons I had had about me not been able to race well away from home and in the heat. I know I can do it know and it gives me so much confidence moving forwards! I was so happy Bjorn managed to hold on for 2nd, he had an amazing day and he is such a gentleman, one of the nicest guys on the circuit!

So, whilst everyone else went off and partied the night away we retired to bed knowing 70.3 Germany would be a very different slice of CAKE!

We stayed a few days in Estonia after the race training and exploring all we could but to be honest we were both pretty tired! It gets to light there on a morning it’s more or less impossible to sleep in and the weather is so varied! One minute we had 35 degrees, the next 60mph winds blowing down trees then a huge lightening storm and rain, so much rain! Onto Frankfurt, we flew across on the Wednesday from Tartu International Airport, the smallest airport iv ever been where you just walk in the the door and your there at check in, no need for trolleys here! The trip took more or less all day, we went via Riga and after landing we got the train to Wiesbaden and then a taxi to the hotel. All in all, the trip was a lot more complicated and hard work than it sounds!

So, tired, dejected, hungry, and been foreigners in a place where we didn’t speak the language apart from my A in GCSE German which was a long time ago we went out looking for food, and you would not believe what we found! We trapsed down the street and found this Italian place; it was the only place to eat in about 1km so we looked at the menu and decided why not, it was the only place we were going to get any food anyways. This quite possible turned into the best decision we had ever made, it was a fantastic family run place and we ended up going there 4 times in 6 nights it was that good. The food was out of this world, the waiters were hilarious, in particular one character called Gino who we got to know quite well, I described him as the embarrassing fun uncle everyone has, the one who gets drunk at weddings and does stupid things! After the race we even took Bjorn to try the food, I think he approved!

I for one had never done a race like Wiesbaden before. We went to register and noticed we didn’t get numbers, put two and two together and figured we must get them at the pro briefing where they were doing blood tests on every single professional athlete. So, the way the day went was we had breakfast, went to have the drugs test whereby the guy took some blood then everyone had to wait in a room together whilst we had the race briefing and then wait for at least another hour until the results from the tests had got back from the hospital and only until then could we get our race numbers. It is so reassuring to know this type of testing is going on now even if it did take nearly 3h until we were free again to rack our bikes! I even got tested again, this time urine, after the race even though I was 8th Pro!

Race day in Wiesbaden could not have been any different, it was windy, cold and it really couldn’t have rained any harder as we put our bikes in transition. It did manage to clear up for the race start and once again I had a good swim but putting socks on in T1 I lost a lot of time and from there on the front of the race just seemed to go away from me. I really didn’t have the legs and as much as I tried things just were not happening! Bjorn flew away with Michael Raelert but it was good to be out there, I have only once raced in worse conditions, the National Junior Triathlon Champs in Wales but some of the descents were just crazy, the road was closed so one didn’t have to worry about cars or anything which was so good to have for such a big race but I have no idea of how much time I was loosing to the guys upfront. I had too bugger gear on for the climbs so I was grinding away and then been super cautious on the descents so there was nowhere where I could really make any time up. Even if I was having a mediocre race Desiree was having an awesome time in what must have been an amazing race to watch as her and Yvonne duked it out on the run Mohammed Ali style! I simply got off the bike and ran as hard as I could for the ½ marathon, possibly setting off a bit too fast for my own good but I wanted to push on all the way round and at least get some good training in. I eventually finished 8th Pro which for a European Championship I was pleased with given how I felt but I was completely unaware on how Desi was getting on and the battle that was unfolding. It was a 4 lap run and I hadn’t seen head nor toe of her for the entire time so to see her after the race and for her to tell me she had come 2nd was amazing, I felt so happy and I know it is a sign of things to come!

So, after taking Bjorn to our little piece of Italy in Wiesbaden we had one day left to see the sights of Wiesbaden, which has a huge Lutheran Cathedral by the way and a wine festival that lasts 10 days every summer! We hunted for a cinema only to find it was shut and the only English film it showed was at 6pm on a Thursday but we were both really tired, it has been a tough two weeks racing but I have loved every minute of it and cant wait to get back on that start line again.