Monaco 70.3

The plan
A long, long time ago - well before the start of this season, there was a plan - Anne and I would both try and qualify for the 70.3 world championships in Florida. Anne had actually achieved this in 2007, so I was fairly confident that she would be able to repeat the feat this year. I was less sure about my own abilities - but this is now old news, I managed to qualify back in June - job done. Now it was Anne's turn. Anne had originally identified a qualifying race in Germany in August, however, having waited for me to get my slot, this race was already full. The only European qualifying event left in the calendar was Monaco, a nice spot if you are a millionaire and have a yacht or a Formula 1 racing car or a penchant for gaming tables - not so much fun for triathletes!

After careful consideration ( at least 2minutes) I decided to go to Monaco with Anne to keep her company- after all there was no pressure on me, I would just go and enjoy the race.
The summer racing season came and went very quickly, and I managed to fit in a couple of olympic distance races and time trials, with Anne warning me about getting properly prepared for the hills and heat that was to come. She was actually lining me up as her domestique- to tow her around the swim and then keep any eye on her competitors during the bike and run!

Registration
The race registration process was an endurance event in itself, including a one hour queue to check in your bike, part of which included a photograph of athlete plus bike for ID purposes. I was hoping that I would still be recognisable when I came to collect my bike after the event.
After registration there was a pre-race pasta party, somehow Anne and I managed to find ourselves at the front of the queue.................
We staggered back to the hotel, a couple of hours later - well that was the carbo loading done!

Race Day
An early start, and the familiar feeling of - I don't really feel like racing to day. The swim was, as most triathlon swims are, swim time is a function of how many times you lose your goggles, your sighting, or get swam over, rather than swimming ability. The idea that Anne could stay on my feet was a non-starter and we soon lost each other.
After a very long run through transition it was onto the bike course. I had a quick look at Anne's transition area and could not see any bikes out yet, so thought that her competitors were still behind me ( fulfilling my role as domestique).

The bike course has three major climbs, with gradients of 5-7%, the web-site blurb suggest that,

"During the 90km, you will discover gorgeous and picturesque villages; each of them is an invitation to a journey into a colourful past. "

However the only thing I saw was my handlebars - either sweating over them on the way up, or gripped with white knuckles on the way down.

Anne caught up with me after about 2 hours into the bike, I had only seen one woman from Anne's age group and she was about 30 seconds further up the road from us. We soon caught her and headed back to Monaco for the run course, needless to say that was the last I saw of Anne.

The 13 mile run, followed a five lap course, partly around the Grand Prix circuit, and (crucially not mentioned on the race website) up a brute of a hill in the centre of Monaco. The crowds however were fantastic, cheering you up the hill every time, with drums and chanting. After a fairly slow run, I completed the course in 5:47, Anne had got round in 5:21. We thought that she had won her age group, but it was difficult to tell as you could see other runners from your age-group on the course, and it was not easy to tell how many laps they had done. The results were available very quickly though- we spotted someone with a laptop in a cafe - and a quick peek over his shoulder showed Anne had won her age group - thus qualifying her for Florida in 2008 and the full Ironman championships in Hawaii in 2009. I was delighted and surprsied to discover that I had got 3rd in my age-group.
This was a great achievement for Anne; her season started very early this year with a brilliant performance in South Africa at the Two Oceans ultra marathon, quickly followed by the Belfast marathon. As the season wore on injury worries were plaguing Anne, and the week before the race she was not well. To pull out this performance required a tremendous effort - and one that should not be taken for granted. Top athletes get it tough too !