The past weekend was racing again; this time the Slovenian National Sprint Championships. It was quite close to where we stayed, in a little town called Kocevje.
The Slovenian coach fetched us at 11 o’clock on Saturday morning. We put the bikes on the roof of the car, which I’m not used to and just hoped that the bikes will be in one piece when we arrived at the race venue.
We cycled the route once for warm-up with the Slovenian athletes. The manager told us it was a nice flat and fast route but when we cycled before the race, I thought - okay this is not my idea of flat and fast – this was really hilly. I immediately knew this was going to be one hard race. After the cycle warm-up I followed my usual warm-up routine, but I was so relaxed and calm – I did not experience my normal pre-race nerves.
Even when we started, I was quite relaxed, but I felt very good in the swim. I had a good swim and emerged in the lead pack. The cycle was – as expected - very hard with attacks throughout the whole 20km. I could feel how the energy in my legs was draining. Our group stayed together and after a quick transition, we started the run. My legs felt like jelly for the first 500m, but after that, I started to get into a rhythm and felt comfortable. It felt like the hill was getting longer and steeper on every lap of the run. I ended in 4th position – 1st junior. I am very happy with the result.
Carla van Huyssteen from South Africa won the ladies race.
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| Prize giving - myself and Carla |
Until later
Cheers
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