Ibiza Quadrathlon
Ibiza Quadrathlon
Municipo de Sant Josep?
Municipo De Sant Josep? Translation: Somewhere in the Sant Josep area!
That statement's from the advertising of Ibiza's World Cup race last weekend.
Giving a clear idea of the laid back nature to what is Quadrathlons original home and best known race areas. Organiser Pepe Rubas had many changes to make to his original planned event before it was allowed to go ahead. Finally deciding to go with a very spectator friendly multi-lap course.
The swim was a very smooth 3 lap affair with an exit from the water before starting each lap. A good swim saw me out in the lead group and Helen placed solidly in the mid-pack. After a dash across the sand. We were away in our sea kayaks, for 5 laps of flat water paddling. As Helen began to pull back the women, I was starting to loose contact with the leaders. By half way, I was about 3minutes down and fighting the wash from forma Olympic paddler Juan Manuel Sanchez,as he came by already one lap ahead!!!(Part of a relay team)
By the end of the paddle I was over 6minutes down on race leader "Czech Pro” Leos Ronsavy and midway down the field.
A rapid transition saw me pull 2 places back and now with my 2 strongest legs still to come; it was time to really dig in. The 6x6.4km lap bike had been made draft legal due to the single road out and back course. After spending a day converting my bike from time-trial to road racer before I left the UK, I was more than cheesed off to see some of the lead athletes riding full blown tt bikes, disk wheels and all!!! By the end of the bike leg, id pulled back to 4th and was now only 4minutes off the lead, with my trump card still to play.
Helen was now hunting down the 2 girls in front, heading out onto the final couple of laps of the bike. Neither of us had a chance out the 5x2km lap off road run course, but were both looking forward to making use of our strongest disciplines.....
After lap one I had moved into 3rd and was making up ground on the 2 guys in front. With a final time of 23mins for the 10km (LOL) run the gap was down to under 3minutes to first and just over 60seconds to 2nd... Helen went out like a rocket on her first lap and took the lead and never looked back...
With Helen winning the women’s race and me getting 3rd in my first World Cup it was another great day for the British quadrathlon team. Next stop for Helen and I will be the European Championships in Germany next month where we both intend to grace the podium once again.
Elite men: 1st Leos Rousavy (Czech) 2.26.19
2nd David Cerdan (Spain) 2.27.58
3rd Tim McDowell (GB) 2.29.07 - a well erned position looking at his photo!
Elite Women: 1st Helen Dyke (GB) 2.50.26
2nd Silke Haremberg (Germany) 2.57.50
3rd Ruth Diaz (Spain) 2.59.51
