The highlight of this race for me was the weather condition which meant we had choppy waters, some wind, heavy rain throughout, jellyfish and very wet course. Temperature was not cold so no need for extra layers on the bike.

The swim went relatively well given the conditions, my lack of swimming abilities and that it was my first OW swim of the year. Apart from a kick in the teeth and getting stung on my face, hand and foot, I was pleased to get out of the water in 36mn. They did a new style rolling start based on predicted time and only 6/8 people starting at the same time every 5 seconds. That made it less chaotic and more friendly.

Transition is slow with a ‘long’ run from the beach and more running through the 3000+ bikes racked. The bike course is fantastic, even in the rain and wind. I’m a fair weather cyclist and still loved the bike leg and particularly the technical downhill. I just felt good, climbed well and managed to gain 720 places. Legs were starting to be soar but no cramps yet!

Another long transition and just a half marathon left to do. By then I was way off my target time and PB but nothing I could do about it, so just went as hard as I could. Work on my mental strength this winter really helped when my entire body started to be in lots of pain. The run is a 2.5 loop and has some U-turn but is nice and quick (did I already say very wet too) In my first lap I got over taken by pros finishing their race which was mentally tough. It got a lot better when I was overtaking people that had just started their run. Even in lots of pain it was just so good for moral. No smiles on the official pictures tells the story. It was hard.

When I finished I just thought that it was a good preparation for IM Lanzarote in 2 weeks and that I should not be too disappointed to miss my target, I tried as hard as I could. I then realised that pros and top AG were all 15 to 20mn slower than last year and with my huge 1 minute improvement I gained 30 places to finish 24 in my AG, my best result in IM races! A very happy trip back to the UK and warmer weather!

As raced and reported by Yann Umbricht