Bad swim in Budapest = 22nd place

Hi, I had a really really poor swim today which resulted in a second pack chase bike leg. The front group of 40 rode faster than the 2nd group of 15 which I was in. My group had handbrakes with tactics going on, so there was no flowing everyone taking a turn to try and catch up scenario! This resulted in a 1 min 30 sec deficit changing to the run and I had no chance. I caught as many places up as I could but 22nd was the best I could finish. It is so frustrating, because I have had such a consistent run of results with good swims and good runs. I raced the best I could today, but with my 22nd place I dropped to 6th overall for the year in the 2010 World Championships.

Budapest Grand Final results

2010 World Championship Overall results

Tours French Grand Prix Sprint race

Hi, my final big hitout before Budapest! Tours is a small town 2hrs drive south of Paris. I arrived the evening before the race and was warmly greeted as always, by my Beauvais Triathlon team members and managers. We had a long late dinner which is always good too. Not so much the food, but the company I am talking about.
On race day, I slept til 9.45am, so good, and just in time for the end of breakfast. I then rested all morning before leaving by bike to do a lap of the course before entering the transition as a team. Aerobars were scrutinised, which I don't have - luckily because I have compact handlebars and aerobars go longer than the hoods.
We start on the pontoon in the current ranking position of the team. Beauvais was ranked 4th so I started about 20th position from the left hand side. Not a great start, but found Liz Blatchford's feet after 50m and then swam my way out next to Vicky Holland. I exited 3rd out of the water and in a good position to break away with Vicky, my teammate. But a bit of misdirection by not seeing the last swim buoy and some fumbling in transition cost me a few seconds and after 400m, there were some other girls with me and Vicky was 5 metres in front still. We couldn't get working in time before the next girls started catching. A sprint triathlon is half the distance to an Olympic distance, so there's half the time and reactions have to be spot on to make that break from the pack. But anyway, it worked out well for Beauvais, because by the end of the bike it was a large group of about 50. I got a great lead out off the bike by my french teammate delphine Pelletier. I ran hard out of transition 2 and made a 20m gap straight. It took until 1km for Barbara Riveros, Erin Densham and Vicky Holland to chase up. Then we finished in that order with a nice sprint finish! It was a great day for my team too, as we picked up the win with myself 1st, Vicky 4th and Delphine Py-Bilot 8th and we now have a shot at the overall Club title. We are in 2nd just behind Poissy.
Tours FGP results here

Kitzbuhel World Championship Series

Hi, I raced well in Kitzbuhel. It was a cool feeling because I gave everything I could and I felt I pushed at the right times during the race too. It was a hard race, even the swim. I felt like every 2nd breath I got a mouth full of water because we were swimming so tight together. I exited up front in the first bunch. The bike course changed this year, they decided to take us into the centre of town and over 200m of cobble stones. I enjoyed the crowds and the festival each time we rode through. Then onto the run , I didn't look back. I felt fresh. I could control the pace. But still, that final last km got to me. I really felt great up to that point, but the 2hr race caught up to me in the final 2 minutes which pushed me back to 3rd place, a few seconds back from 1st, Paula Findlay CAN . I was still completely happy, as I felt out of breath from pushing so hard. I had given everything.
Kitzbuhel WCS results
Kitzbuhel is a special race for me. 2010 made it my 5th time in a row and every time with a great outcome.
Then all I could think about was the reality of what had happened the day before. Laurent had fainted and lost consciousness at the 2km mark of the run in his race! He made a full recovery within an hour, which was the best news ever. But why did it happen? And how did it go that far was still the question? We flew back home to Sète in France and straight to bed for a few days rest before going to Marseille hospital for heart exams. All tests have showed normal results. So, with a lot of rest now, there are no medical reasons for Laurent not to continue sport. He will begin training when he is ready. :-)