Alpe D’Huez Triathlon 29th July 09, Long Course

You can imagine who had the idea to do this one!! An intrepid group of four went forth – two competitors, Kay and Anne plus support crew, myself and Ailbhe – our 12 year old son. We arrived at Grenoble Airport and after the obligatory dispute with the car hire firm we squeezed our kit plus four bikes into the car (Ailbhe and I had taken our bikes too!).

The long course race consisted of a 2.2k swim in Lac Du Verny, a 115k cycle including 2 cols and finishing up Alpe D’Huez and then a half marathon at the top of the mountain (i.e. above 1800m).

Kay and Anne were first unnerved when we drove up to the Alpe from the airport. At the bottom of the climb somebody had painted ‘and so it begins’ and immediately the road rises never to level out again. On the Tuesday morning I headed out on the bike and rode up the Col du Glandon and Col de la Croix de Fer. On my way back up the Alpe, I bonked ‘big style’ and had to phone Anne and Kay to come and get me (I was only half way up). Of course they laughed at me but they also were concerned about how severe the climb would be during their race. I had only taken water plus 2 gels for my ride, so re-assured them that they would be OK as long as they kept eating and drinking, and were not as stupid as I had been. I decided not to tell them that our bikes needed a lower gear – the climbs were ridable but would rip the legs off you (well what else should I have done – the race was the next day and they weren’t going to be able to change their gearing).

I took Kay and Anne down to Lac du Verney for the race start. There was an awful lot of lithe, fit bodies of all nationalities (about 700 in all) and both Anne and Kay resolved that they were going to pace themselves to get around the course (it had dawned on them that the race was more akin to an ironman than a long course Olympic). Both Kay and Anne swam well coming out of the water in the front third, but they knew that the swim was insignificant to their overall performance.

Some six and a half hours later, I was standing at the transition in the village of Alpe d’huez getting progressively more worried. I knew that the course was murder and the temperature was 2 degrees higher than when I had bonked on the Alpe. I saw riders falling off their bikes with exhaustion as they came into transition. Most competitors walked into transition, spent a long time recovering during transition and then walked out of transition to the first drinks station. Anne was first of the pair to arrive. The toll the bike had taken on her was obvious as she sat down to change into her running shoes. I shouted some encouragement and she mouthed ‘that was brutal’. Finally she shuffled out onto the run course and I was now panicking just thinking how Kay might be faring. Anne had punctured on the second climb and had taken 15 minutes to change her tub.

Thankfully Kay came into transition not too long later. I called to her and she smiled across to me (much to my relief). I knew that, if the pair of them had hauled themselves up the Alpe, there was no way that these two ladies were not going to finish. At that moment I had very mixed feelings – I was incredulous about what they were doing as I knew it was beyond me but part of me also wanted them to stop as the event was taking so much out of them. I knew that this wasn’t going to happen so out I went onto the three lap run course to show support and take photos!! Later Kay confessed to stopping on the Alpe for 15 mins after she passed out, suffering from heat stroke. She decided to sneak away from the race marshalls in case they would not let her start again.

As if the bike course was not tough enough, the race organisers took the triathletes up every hill they could find with a suitable running surface, and some hills that did not. It was hot, dusty and windy. Needless to say both Anne and Kay both finished the race after a total of 3,280 metres of climbing in 9:09 (Anne) and 9:18(Kay), and two scary women are now (in my eyes anyway) scarier still. Seldom will you come across better examples of training, racing and resolve, and more resolve.

If you are tempted by the Alpe D’Huez Long Course Triathlon – invest in your resolve (and a compact chain set), you will need both.