The European Championships - 25th June 2017 Before I start, I have to say a huge thanks to every single person who has supported me throughout my journey to this race. I may not always show it but I truly appreciate every comment and kind word. Now for the race, anyone who has seen my social media will know that I bigged this race up hugely, it’s been all I’ve thought about since qualifying. Every training session, every race and (almost) every meal has been focused towards this event. So there was a lot on the line. On Thursday Dad and I to drove to Heathrow and met up with Chrissy, another age group competitor and member of my triathlon club (The Flying Monks) before boarding the flight direct to Dusseldorf airport. We then had to take an 6 person taxi van to our hotel just so it could fit the bike box in! I was using a Bike Box Alan, kindly supplied by Performance Cycles, which worked out well and did the job perfectly. After arriving at our hotel, Dad and I decided to walk down to the official team hotel and also have a look at the event location. What was expected to be a short walk, turned out to be over 40 minutes along the twisting Rhine. And 40 minutes back! N.B. Check how far you are staying from the event because it is very hard to understand tram lines when your German only goes as far as “Ja” and “Danke” In the following hours leading up to the event, I completed the swim familiarisation, collected my registration pack and had my personal mechanic (dad) put my bike back together. On the Saturday evening I racked my bike in the longest transition ever seen (honestly it was at least 400m long) and had a chat with some of my u20 GB buddies and other competitors. The big debate leading up to the event was whether wetsuits would be allowed. Dusseldorf had had nearly 2 weeks of 30 degree plus weather and the harbour area hosting the swim was warm. For this event the cut off was 22 degrees and I was secretly hoping it would be non wetsuit because of my fairly strong swim. Pre-Race thoughts I’m not going to deny that I wanted to win this race. Every time I closed my eyes I was imagining myself winning. Not one negative thought crossed my mind in the lead up to the race. I knew how fast I was and I knew that if I really could ‘unleash the beast’ I would have a very strong chance of coming out on top. Even racing in the same wave as the 20-24 age category didn’t bother me, it would just give me more of a reason to push. Race morning (Sunday) We were up at 05:30 and at 06:00 headed off to transition by taxi. Some food, final checks in transition and a warm up then headed to pre race briefing for 07:30. It was announced wetsuits would be optional. The 750m swim was in a fairly dirty side dock with zero visibility below the water and the exit what seemed like an endless number of steps up to the bridge. Then there was roughly a 400m run to the start of transition (my bike was at the furthest end possible) so add this to the length of transition and it would be almost a 1km run before I even saw my bike. It had been raining on and off so the technical 20km bike course became especially treacherous after prolonged dry spell – as well as tram lines to negotiate. After the bike I would have to push my bike the whole length of transition before starting on the 5km run. Mid warmup a tannoy called out for all of the 16-19 & 20-24 male athletes to get to the start line so I lubed myself up with baby oil at the wrists and ankles, got in the wetsuit and made my way down to the start. I was bunched next to a few other GB athletes one of whom being Sam Mileham (remember the name) who gave me a lot of help and guidance during 2016 regarding a blog and the process to qualify for age group races. We were joking around and everyone had such a chilled attitude that it felt like every other race. But it wasn’t. This was the European Championships and I wanted to win. Race time As we placed ourselves in the water alongside the pontoon the horn soon sounded and it was go time. I got off to a solid start with minimal contact with the athletes alongside me and everything was looking good. However, my arms started to get really tired and my breathing just couldn’t get into a rhythm. I passed the halfway point and found myself swimming alongside another athlete, we both breathed towards each other on every stroke and made eye contact each time. I have no idea who he was but I left him for dead in the final 50m. (Maybe he caught me up in the cycle but who knows?). Once the swim had finished I jumped onto the pontoon and sprinted up the steps before starting the long run to my bike. I quickly pulled my wetsuit down to my waist and held my goggles and hat firmly. Eventually reaching the bike I quickly took off my wetsuit and placed it all in the box, put on my helmet, race belt and then ran with the bike to the mount line where I completed probably the best flying mount I have seen in my life. Slipping my feet into my shoes and charged out onto the bike course. The rain meant the roads were very slippery and within 5 minutes I had seen 4 other GB athletes fall off their bikes going around corners. Coincidently they had all just overtaken me and clearly paid the price. One of these athletes was James Hodgson, a friend of mine in the 20-24 age category who got back on his bike and overtook me again before the turn point (Check out James' website HERE). I reached the end of the bike course, removed my feet from the bike shoes and jumped off the bike before the dismount line and proceeded to run the whole length of transition to rack my bike. A very speedy transition led me to sprint out and onto the run course. I knew that this was my opportunity to create the most damage. I had overtaken a Belgium athlete in transition and managed to pull away from him as the race progressed. Now to catch the rest of the athletes. Sadly that didn’t happen. I kept pushing but just couldn’t up my pace over the two laps. With around 200m to go I spotted another GB athlete in my age group so I made him a target. As soon as I hit the blue carpet I put the burners on and overtook him to finish as 4th u20 and 3rd GB athlete in my category. I was finished and I was happy. Although I got nowhere near the result I had wanted, I had the honour of representing my country and racing some of the best athletes my age. Sam Mileham (the guy I mentioned earlier) won the u20 age group and I can honestly say that he deserved it more than anyone else. He has been competing for Team GB for years now and in his final race for the u20 age group he pulled out a brilliant performance and got awarded the gold medal. (He was also sitting A level exams during the week building up to the race!). I wish Sam all the best with his triathlon and hope to race against him again where I’ll give him more of a challenge! Check out Sam's website HERE. Post race thoughts In terms of execution, my race was perfect, everything went smoothly and I had no muck ups. My health is great and training has been varied and led to PB’s this year. The only frustration is that I didn’t achieve the times I know I am capable of had I been racing to my full ability. I genuinely have no excuses as to what happened, it just clearly wasn’t my day. However, I did learn a lot, I have some big plans and I intend to race on that kind of stage again soon! I’m sure all of the GB athletes would agree with me that regardless of the finishing position it is a brilliant experience to race in the GB kit, and the city of Dusseldorf hosted a wonderful event. My race results are HERE. #bigthingsgotlostinthepost Well done to Chrissy who finished in a strong time despite nursing injury. Also to Adrian Williams, a member of Cirencester AC, who came 8th in his Age-Group. My greatest thanks goes to my parents for supporting me mentally, physically and (most importantly) financially throughout the lead up to this race. It is fair to say there is no chance I would be racing at this level without their help. It is also definitely necessary to thank my sponsors and supporters for all of the help I have received in the last year. Pedal Potential South West Swim Performance Cycles Cirencester Athletics Club The Flying Monk Triathlon Club To keep up to date with everything I else I am getting up to throughout the season, check out my social media pages- Facebook page- Luke Campbell Triathlon Strava- Luke Campbell Triathlon Twitter- @lukecampbell246 Instagram- @lukecampbell246
4 Comments
Pete hart
6/27/2017 01:44:35 pm
Nice write up Luke. Congrats on a great result.
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Sue Pratt
6/28/2017 01:45:28 am
Well done Luke, great effort and great write up too!!
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Georgina evans
6/28/2017 03:07:28 pm
Well done like. You're a legend
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Sandie Brown
6/29/2017 05:45:28 am
well done Luke. A great blog - almost felt as though I was there. Keep at it :)
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