On May 11th, while many of you were having fun at Gulf Coast, I had the privilege of representing my country and my club at the ITU World Championship-Long Course in Ibiza, Spain. The distances were 4K swim, 120K bike, 30K run. I got there on Tuesday evening and stayed at the hotel Playa Real along with most of my teammates. There were a total of 75 members of Team USA, plus Tim Yount the team manager and our very own Jack Murray, team mechanic extraordinaire.
When you are thrown in with a group such as this far away from home, a special bonding occurs almost instantly. We all ate breakfast and lunch in the dining room, where we helped ourselves to all we could eat buffets. We got to know each other over meals and began planning our swims, bike rides, runs and trips to the expo. Christen, the women’s under 40 age group captain organized a swim one afternoon in the cove just outside the hotel. This was my very first experience actually swimming in salt water. The water was very salty and the sea was gently rolling. My 30-minute swim was a very pleasant introduction swimming in the Mediterranean. On Thursday morning a group left about 9:30 to ride the course. It was a beautiful 60K loop around the island, through tiny villages and over mountain passes. The big climb was at the 30K point and was about 3 miles long. It wasn’t too steep, but the grade was constant. I rode the loop with an athlete named Eric, from Quebec. It was a very enjoyable 2-hour ride. The team manager, Tim, took some us on a run down to the harbor past the lighthouse and back. He showed us the swim course and where the transition area, or the boxes were located.
On Friday we went to the expo for dorsal removal. It was a painless procedure really. Every athlete had to do it, so we didn’t feel singled out. Dorsal removal was what we call packet pickup. We each got a neat backpack with the race logo in our packet. We could purchase event shirts if we wanted, but there would only be a finisher’s shirt included in the packet. The expo was a bit skimpy by our standards, not many booths, and no freebies. Oh well, everything else was just fabulous.
Friday night we all gathered at the marina in our parade uniform for the team photo. After that we marched in a parade through town to a plaza where they had the opening ceremonies. The mayor and other dignitaries gave speeches and declared the event to be opened. After the athletes started to disperse, the local kids descended upon us to ask for autographs. We were happy to oblige. We stayed until they were all satisfied and then a group of us went to a small quiet out of the way restaurant to eat.
Through all of the fun-filled activities the athletes were doing, Jack was there in his mechanic’s room making sure everyone’s bike was in working order. It was a good place for me to hang out and meet people. Jack even helped me trade for a Canadian Team hat. Somewhere a Canadian is wearing an Austin Triathletes running hat. CO2 cartridges were hard to come by, as we weren’t allowed to bring them over on the plane. Jack helped many of us find one of the precious cartridges.
Saturday afternoon we took our bikes and bags full of gear to the boxes. There we racked our bikes, got body marked, and put our bags on the pegs next to our numbers. Now it was back to the hotel for dinner. Even after all the bikes were racked, Jack was still busy helping athletes locate those precious CO2 cartridges. Got into bed by 11 PM. The 4:30 wake-up call came right on time. The hotel staff had kindly agreed to have an early breakfast for us, which was much appreciated.
The race was an out of the water start from the pier. We started waves of about 150 each. When my turn came, I let those in a hurry dive into the water, and then I jumped about three and a half feet into the water. The salt water was initially quite a shock to my lips, but after a minute or so I was used to it and everything went swimmingly. The swim was a large 4K loop in the harbor. The old walled city, or Dalt Vila overlooked the harbor and I could see it when I turned to breath. Wow was this cool or what? I was in Ibiza racing in the World Championships of Triathlon.
After 1:26 I was out of the water and running for my bike, then two loops of the course, which had been closed to traffic. There were some rollers going out and then came the big hill. Sure it was long, but some of hills in Austin are steeper, so it wasn’t bad at all. I managed to pass a lot of riders on the hill. On the way out onto my second loop, the lead pack passed me going the other way. There were about 25 of them, pretty bunched up, with about four officials on motorcycles right beside them just watching. The second loop wasn’t quite as fast as the first, but I held my own, still passing lots of riders on the long hill.
I arrived in transition just as the winner was finishing. So all those cheers weren’t for me, but I could at least pretend they were. I handed my bike off to a volunteer and went to the changing tent. There I donned my jester’s hat. This was going to be a fun final 30K. My legs were pretty tight, but everyone’s reaction to the hat was great, which motivated me to push onward. The course was three loops, with each loop consisting of an out and back on the pier and out and back through town. I kept seeing teammates throughout the course and we would yell encouragement to each other. People in the crowd would yell, “go USA” or smile and give the thumbs up. I struggled a bit in the middle of the run, but pulled it together for a strong finish. I was smiling like a kid on Christmas morning at the finish.
I’ve had better races, but I never enjoyed any race as much as I enjoyed this one. I hung around until the final American finished. It was a girl who was suffering from the flu. She pulled it together in the final 10K to finish just under the 11-hour cutoff. It was a courageous performance that those of us who stuck around won’t soon forget.
The closing ceremony later that evening, proved to be anti-climactic. There was some food, but what most of the Americans were wondering was, “where’s the beer?” Some of us left the next morning and some us stayed for a while longer. I stayed one more day and took a short bike ride that morning. That afternoon I just roamed around town and ended up bumping into a teammate who was also going up to Dalt Vila. We hiked up to the top and enjoyed a spectacular view of the harbor. Did we really swim that far?
All to soon morning came and I had to leave this island paradise. I had the time of my life. I met some really great people, may of whom I will see whenever I travel to a race. Next year Worlds will be in Sweden and I’ll be there and so will many of my new friends. If any of you have the chance to be a part of Team USA, I highly recommend it. For me, it was a wonderful experience.