We arrived down the afternoon before for registration and to get the bike checked in. I let Catherine drive so I could paw my way through the athletes pack (I probably shouldn't have left it until the day before the the race to read it!). A quick scan through the competitors list saw that my old friend and nemesis, Sean Farrell was also down to race the Sprint distance. This added a new dimension to the race - doing well in the Europeans was one thing but beating Sean would now be my priority.
The alarm went off at 5:30am - no snoozing today as I was working to a tight schedule. I needed to get to transition and back in time for some breakfast around 6:30, approx 1.5 hours before the race. Any later than this and it would have been too close to the race to eat. By 7am everything was going to plan - I'd set up in transition and I'd had my bowl of porridge. I went back to the room to get into my tri-suit and wetsuit. I left the Hotel around 7:30 having to wear my wetsuit through the hotel lobby which drew a few raised eyebrows from the hotel staff. When I got outside I was glad to be wearing it though as it was cold and windy and it looked like it was going to rain.
The walk to the start area only took 10 mins and I arrived just in time for my section (the blue hats) to be called into the holding area and this caught me a bit by surprise. What, no opportunity to warm up? I normally like to do a few short sprints and a stretch, but I guess this would have been impossible in a wetsuit anyway. The nerves really started to kick in as we were ushered into the final holding area (a**se like a rabbits nose springs to mind). We watched the wave before us go off and we all applauded - thankful for something to take our minds off our own impending doom. 5mins later it was our turn, the 35-40 & 40-45 Age group, around 100 of us in total. We walked along the pontoon and dropped into the water. My usual game plan is to get into the water early and get a good warm up. However, this was not allowed and I was immediately summoned back to the pontoon. So with no warm up of any kind I new this was going to be a difficult swim....I still hadn't managed to calm my breathing down and the starters whistle was imminent. The next thing we were off and within a couple of strokes I was kicked, punched and swam over the top of. I knew this was going to be no walk in the park but the ferocity of the start took me by surprise. I tried to stay calm and get into a rhythm, however after around 200 strokes I couldn't get my heart rate down so I took a few breast strokes. I was disappointed as I knew then that my swim time was going to be 'pants' and any opportunity to beating my arch rival Sean Farrell was evaporating fast.
It was damage limitation time. I turned around the buoy heading back upstream with approx 400m to go and managed to get into some sort of rhythm. I was just hoping that this wouldn't leave me too far behind Sean.
I eventually exited the water and cries of 'come on Ireland' and rapturous applause filled my ears all the way from the pontoon and into transition. I wasn't wearing a watch so I had no idea of the time. I knew it was slow but not a disaster and maybe if I had a good bike I could catch Sean on the run. Anyway I had a reasonable T1 and set off on my bike. I was sporting some new rear wheel cover complete with Tri-planet stickers so my hopes were high for a good time. Within the first kilometer the weather turned very bad, with strong winds and rain lashing in my face. The first part of the bike was a gradual uphill climb - nothing steep but I found it difficult to get going. After about 5k an athlete in a British trisuit over took me, and this spurned me on. I dropped back around 10 bike lengths and used him to pace off. This worked great as I found a good rhythm and started to overtake people. At the half way mark I was still with him, and once we turned to come back the weather started to clear up and the wind was pretty much behind us. He gradually pulled away but I was going well and new it was a fast bike. Whether it was good enough to put sometime into Sean I would soon find out once I was on the run.
With about 2k to go I nearly had a complete disaster - my hands were gripping the bars only loosely when I hit a pot hole and it knocked the bars out of my hands. The whole bike wobbled and the front wheel started to disappear and my race was in the balance! Thanks to a split second reaction I managed to grab the bars and steady the bike, however I then realised the impact had knocked the chain off. Disaster! If I had to stop to put it back on any chance of beating Sean would be over. I delved back into the memory archives...there must be a way to put it back on without stopping... almost instinctively my left hand grabbed the gear lever for the big chain ring, and I managed to ease the chain back on. Phew, what a relief! I took a deep breath and looked up and realising I had only lost a couple of seconds so I ploughed on towards the end of the bike and T2.
T2 went well and I headed out on the run with a real bounce in my step. Within a few minutes I heard to familiar cries of 'Come on Richie' and it was great to see all the family cheering me on. Catherine said that Sean was 2 mins ahead - surely this was too much - last year he only had 1 minute and that was enough for him to beat me. Still I felt strong and whether or not I caught Sean, I knew I was going to have a good run. More cheers of 'Come on Ireland' followed me all the way round the first lap and support (esp Mark Doyle) spurned me on. After lap one I hadn't noticed Sean but Catherine said I was closing the gap.
On the second lap, and coming round the cone for the second time and I noticed Sean was around 45 seconds ahead - this was a good gap but not unsurmountable. I continued on towards the bridge where I noticed the family had moved to..they too we on their way towards the finish line. I kept going, over taking many British and Irish Athletes on the way and ever hopeful that come the final turn around the cone that Sean would be in my sights. So with some trepidation I rounded the cone for the final time to see Sean was only 30 meters ahead - surely this would be enough to catch him. I think Sean saw how close I was and increased his pace as there was only approx half a kilometer to go now and the finish line would soon be in sight. Meter by meter I started to real him in. 30m became 25m and by the bridge it became 20m. Coming off the bridge we could see the finish line and panic set in. I thought the game was up - I was exhausted with my efforts and I was starting to tire. There was not going to be enough time to close the gap as he still had 15m on me and the finish was looming fast. Come on Richie I said to myself , give it one last push...and so I did.
We were now both on the blue carpet with 25m to the finish line - surely my sprint finish would be enough. I pulled up along side Sean and put my head down and so did Sean - what's this I thought - Sean has a sprint finish too? Oh sh*te I hadn't planned on this! We both put our heads down and went for it - we engulfed a British Athlete on our way and he too took to the challenge so now there was 3 of us sprinting to the line. Every single muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop this madness! However the will to win kept these requests at bay and I ploughed on towards the line. Step by step, neck and neck we neared the finish line, and with one last effort I dived over the line hoping this tactic, one I had learned from junior school, would bring about success.
All 3 of us crossed the line together, but who was going to take the spoils? It was too close to call. I thought I had it on the line and the British guy thought so too. However Sean was confident too, as unlike myself who thought it was a photo finish, he had made sure his tag had crossed the line first. Anyway I collapsed in a heap and it took a strong arm from Sean to get me onto my feet. We were all enthralled by such an exciting finish to the race. Who won on the line didn't really matter as we had proved out mettle and that was what mattered. I was delighted! Having had such a bad swim and being approx 2mins behind Sean coming out of T2 I was thrilled I had caught him. We soon met up with Catherine and the kids and they too were enthralled at having witnessed such an exciting finish. She took a picture of myself and Sean after the race - it reminded me of Hamburg 2007. This time however I was shoulder to shoulder with Sean at the end.
After a brief stint in the athlete village we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the hotel still none the wiser as to my time or place. I bumped into Ellen Murphy and she said there was internet access in the hotel lobby so that was where I headed.
So I logged onto the Triathlone website and typed in our age group and there is was:-
Age Cat
19 Richard Cattle Ireland 1:12:15 (Finish time)
I had finished in 19th place in my age category but I was placed behind Sean and the British guy. I must admit I was gutted, but then I had to remind myself that I had just finished in the top 20 in the European Championships.
So, we headed home another race over, another fantastic experience. What would I do without Triathlons?
