I booked to travel by Eurostar so didn't have the worry of volcanic ash, all went very smoothly and I arrived in Nancy on Friday afternoon. There was an opportunity to ride the course without traffic before the Elite races on Saturday. The bike course was quite technical and I worried about the tight corners through the town but the run was a very flat fast 2.5km course through a park. On sunday we had to rack our bikes early as there was the men's race starting an hour before the women's. I set off on the first run (just under 10km) and felt a bit sluggish, not surprising as I missed a bit of speedwork in the last couple of weeks before the race but still managed 38:53 with only three others in my age group ahead of me. As we finished the run it began to rain, this would make the bike very difficult, however the conditions were the same for everyone. It not only rained on the bike it was torrential with a few hailstones thrown in, I was passed by a few cyclists but it was still a good ride (1:16 – 38km ish). Getting my wet shoes back on with numb feet and fingers was not easy. On the final run I felt strong, the rain had stopped and no cramp (21:04). I was given a GB flag to wave as I came over the line. A brilliant day, 7th place, 2:17 (The winner in my age group was German and did 2:09 and GB took silver and bronze).
