Everyone is PTS2 so that means no below the knee amputees but some 2 legged guys with some motor disfunction. Maurits has 2 legs & so does the winner Mohamed but one of his is half size.
Below the knee is much much faster, a double below the knee could potentially be faster than an able bodied runner. I think I have the wrong blade weight & I would be faster with a lighter weight (for lighter athlete CAT2) but I’m not able to buy one without buying a full leg setup & just need to keep an eye out on US ebay. My given blade is a CAT 3 &
it’s too stiff, I am using a 2nd hand CAT 3 that is much softer because it’s worn in.
Good to see you Doka - didn’t get a chance to see you after your finish.
One of the problems with classification is you are rarely comparing like with like in each category - they are more broad brush but given the number of para-athletes then for some cats you don’t have enough taking part to have sub-categories like you have with say, PTVI (3 classes)
Been trying to think of anything that might smooth out your day.
The ladies set off 30mins before you, so you can watch their swim start. They like you in the water fairly early & then you swim from the pens (1) across to the start line (2) which is great for acclimatisation. The water was really clear & should be a great temp for you. I enjoyed the swim & appreciated the ropes/hawsers on the bottom which helped me swim straight, I guess they attach buouys to them when they’re boat racing.
I didn’t really like the bike, too windy & too flat for me. I couldn’t imagine how those doing the full distance summoned the grit to go around for a second time.
The run is quite gravelly with a couple of shortish climbs each lap. As ever on French races I didn’t expect too much in the way of gels at the aid stations & took my own.
Thanks, Doon I got the start times yesterday, for some reason I thought I started at 11! So after the race I need to get a move on so I can get to the tunnel in time.
The bike on Sunday was largely on the tribars and my neck was aching, was actually pleased near the end when it was twisty and I could change position.
I had wondered about the run, the gravel is a bit sapping, but not sure I’ll be running that fast anyway.
It’s looking a bit cooler as well, hopefully the wind will be calm.
Managed to register today but ended up being a faff, the route Strava and even google showed ended up as a dead end onto a huge building site that might be another gigafactory! So I had to retrace myself and found a nice bike route but ended up doing about 10K more with lots of time wasting, I’d only taken a small bar to eat and was getting hungry!
I did watch one of the kids races which looked good fun, a young girl was well in the lead at the start of the run but the better swimmers probably prevailed as they were out of the water quickly. French triathlon is probably looking good for the future if this is a regular thing.
I don’t start until midday so no rush in the morning but changed my tunnel crossing by 40 minutes as I was possibly cutting it fine if we can’t get our bikes straight away. The roads looked generally ok but the route I went had quite a bit of fine surface dressing not as bad as the crap they put down in Yorkshire but would still slow you down.
But… I think I’m getting an infection in my tear duct! It was a bit red a couple of days ago but it normally sorts itself out. I looked earlier and noticed a sort yellow gunk or spot managed to find a chemist who spoke some English and I’ve got some eye drops, I’m utterly terrified of eyes and this is not helping things, with a bit of luck I’ve caught it early and it will settle down.
Oh, and I’m also covered in insect bites and my knee was feeling sore on the bike but I think I was riding awkwardly from the uncomfortable shorts.
DNS today the eye doesn’t look any worse but doesn’t look any better either although it hasn’t had much chance. It’s probably a very low risk in a pretty clean lake but I don’t want to risk it getting any worse in a 35 minute swim.
Bit frustrated but I’ll ride the bike course and probably do a short run.
He’s winning the whole show as it stands, went through 5 k in 18 something …?!
40 kph bike?!
Average bike speeds way way up on the course we did, no more Bolton next year apparently
I remember taking a look at the course when they announced the race last year. Possibly as flat as they could have made it. A far cry from your typical Bolton bike course
It’s probably Bolton’s last year of any M. Race all of those hard hour sessions I probably would have got through it but often the first edition races can have issues and I would have been slow
I got the start times yesterday, for some reason I thought I started at 11! So after the race I need to get a move on so I can get to the tunnel in time.
not as bad as the crap they put down in Yorkshire but would still slow you down.
managed to find a chemist who spoke some English and I’ve got some eye drops, I’m utterly terrified of eyes and this is not helping things, with a bit of luck I’ve caught it early and it will settle down.
the eye doesn’t look any worse but doesn’t look any better either although it hasn’t had much chance. It’s probably a very low risk in a pretty clean lake but I don’t want to risk it getting any worse in a 35 minute swim.