Last weekend I headed over the channel to race on French soil for the second time this year. The race was the Regional Championships for the North of France and included a number of D2 and D3 clubs from the area. This included Rory’s recently joined club Lievin. Lievin and Villeneuve D’ascq (my club) are both Lille-based and are quite intense rivals; think of us and Thames Turbo and you’ll begin to understand!

Swim

The swim course was different to what I ever experienced. We started at the far end of the lake, swam 250m, jumped out and dived back in to swim a 500m loop to complete the 750m. Coming into the race amidst exam period and having missed a bit of training through illness, I wasn’t entirely sure how the swim would play out but entering T1 just behind the front pack I knew I had swam a decent leg. Rory also placed himself well as he came out the swim with the leaders.

Bike

After what turned out to be a disastrous transition, I left T1 in ‘no man’s land’ with a lead pack of around 12 racing off up the road and another group behind me. As I set off in pursuit of the lead pack I was joined by my teammate and we pushed hard in the knowledge that our race was over if we didn’t catch them. The technical course with 3 dead turns proved to be considerably more suited to our small working group of 3 than the bunch ahead and after 10kms we managed to bridge the gap.

Run

Coming into T2 I was in large pack of 15 athletes. I ran hard out of transition to move away from the main group and found myself in 3^rd position with Rory about 20m ahead of me and another athlete just ahead of him. As I settled into my rhythm Rory had eaten up the deficit to the leader and accelerated away from the field at a pace no-one could deal with. The run was surprisingly undulating considering the topography of the area. However, a tough run course always suits me and as I came into the last 1km I was sitting right on the shoulder of the 2^nd placed athlete. With a burst of pace coming into the finish I managed to pass him and take the silver behind Rory. It had proved to be a good day for Optima in France!

Splits:

Sam- Swim+T1 (10:08), Bike (29.57), Run (16.30) – Overall (57.11)

Rory- Swim+T1 (09:40), Bike (30.23), Run (15.49) – Overall (56.25)

Full results

http://club.quomodo.com/heninenduranceteam/uploads/226/S%20open.pdf