It has been a crazy fortnight since I was last bloggling - in fact I’ve crammed in so much it seems impossible that it was only two weeks ago. After the Worlds in Vancouver I went on holiday in the Rockies for a week, combining a train trip and a road trip to go to places such as Banff and Jasper. It was a great trip and it was nice to leave all my tri kit back in Vancouver and have a complete break from training for a few days (well, I did actually sneak a run in).

I had barely been home and got over my jetlag from Canada when it was time to pack up again and return to Heathrow, this time to fly to Nice to watch my boyfriend Ozzer do Ironman France. Boy what a race that was! It was 30C in the shade come the afternoon, so it was no surprise to see so many people suffering in the heat. Ozzer coped with it all brilliantly to clock an Ironman PB of 11:20. He and several others had been trying to convince me to “go long” next year, but watching that race has put me off it for a long while! I think I’ll keep things short and fast for the time being, although I’m now looking ahead to my first Half Ironman/70.3 in a few weeks. What with so much travelling and holidaying recently, it has been tricky to train consistently, but now I’m back home I should soon be able to get back into my routine. Mind you, right now I’m so frazzled that it feels like I need a holiday to get over my holidays…

Happy training & racing
EK

PS Have included my favourite pic from the race in Vancouver - I absolutely loved riding the Chrono on that bike course!

Our sponsored Focus rider, Matthew Page has just sent us in his reaction from Mountain Mayhem where he put in a sterling performance. Matt didn’t quite last the distance but still finished 16th out of 122 racers! Read his detailed account of the gruelling 24 hour race below:

Mountain mayhem has come and gone, the event that I had been targeting for months. Unfortunately the race didn’t go to plan and due to extreme weather and course conditions I stopped after 14 hours.

I had arrived at Eastnor Park on Thursday, found what I thought to be the best pitch and setup a camp. We were track side and immediately before the timing tent at the end of the lap. By Friday afternoon we had finished setting up the camp, I had started my pre-race fuelling and things were looking good. I had a really organised pit area and an absolutely brilliant support team: My girlfriend Nia, my Mum, Jo and Ben who was in charge of the mechanical side of things.

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Wiggle are delighted to be supporting Matthew Dowse and Andrew Wyeth as they cycle across the USA from Coast to Coast.

Matthew and Andrew’s quest is to complete the USA coast to coast ride in 12-15 days which amounts to 200-250 miles a day, riding at an average speed of 20+ mph whilst raising as much money as possible for Leukaemia Research, The Royal Marsden Hospital and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They would love to top as much as £100k, but clearly this is down to the generosity of individuals, organisations and companies alike, along with lots of publicity!

Wiggle are providing most of their kit for the incredible journey including 2 Focus Cayo Experts.

They will be writing daily updates while on their ride and they will also be keeping us up to date with their training.

Click here to view their profile page and click below to read their first bloggle entry:

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This Friday sees the start of the 11th annual Mountain Mayhem Festival. A whole weekend of bike fun centered around the 24 hour endurance race. The setting for the event will be Eastnor Castle in Ledburg, Herefordshire.
Focus and Wiggle will be represented by Matthew Page and will have our very own king of the tools Ben Jefferey who will be on hand for the full 24 hours should anything need tweaking or adjusting.

The deadline for Individual Entry places for the London Triathlon has now passed and are no-longer available… however all is not lost! Sports Tours International have been appointed the Official Sports Travel Partner for IMG and the Mazda London Triathlon and are offering excellent packages to give you a chance to race.

They are offering a limited number of Individual Entry places in the event, with two nights accommodation in Docklands, at the fantastic 4 Star International Hotel. Close the start area, this is the ideal location as a base for the event, and only a short journey from central London and all the benefits enjoyed in the city centre.

If you are interested in this fantastic opportunity visit the Sports Tours International website now to secure your place!

Official Website of the London Triathlon: www.thelondontriathlon.co.uk

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Everyone at wiggle would like to say a massive WELL DONE to Andrea who stormed back to winning ways at the weekend with 1st place at the Nokia Windsor Triathlon! Andrea’s decision to enter was only confirmed on the Friday evening as she felt the Achilles injury would hold up for the race… and she right! You can read a full report on the race over on www.tri247.com.

Andrea also spoke in depth with the tri247 team about her Olympic disappointment and what the future holds. What does she think of the women that are going to the Olympics? will she continue to race internationally? any thoughts of retirement…?

Read the full interview here

We are very pleased to announce that we have added premier backpack and luggage company Eastpak to the site. Specializing in backpacks, courier bags and holdalls there is bound to be one that will suit your needs.

For the full range we carry simply click here.

“I’ve had a few queries about what happened to me in Madrid because I realise now that I wasn’t very clear. Unfortunately I didn’t finish. It was too cold for me and after a very physical swim (I’m sure I got rugby tackled!) I was pretty far back in the field. Any hope I had of catching the main pack disappeared when an American girl crashed in front of me on the corner of a fast down hill putting me back further. When I got off the bike I was so far back that it wasn’t worth running and aggravating my achilles for a poor result. Hope this answers a few questions.”

Regards

Andrea

Well, I hope that’s my injury problems over with. After 8 weeks, I can now walk, swim and cycle a bit.
I hope to start back running in a few weeks, after I build back up the muscles in my feet. And with a bit of luck, back racing in late July. For now I’m trying to keep my swimming strong and build up my fitness on my bike.

I have a scan on my foot next week so providing it shows no abnormalities, I will be able to push on.
It’s been extremely frustrating having an injury as it stops me doing what I love doing but I now hope that this trying time is over and I can get back to training and racing.

RN

It’s as if Christmas has come early. We have yet another competition for you, this one is in collaboration with Elite and their hugely popular Ozone Elite Muscle Rubs. We are giving away an Elite Real Axiom CT trainer worth £600 as well as more unmissable prizes.

Simply buy any item from Ozone Elite Muscle Rubs on the Wiggle.co.uk site before 31st July 2008 to be in with a chance of winning.

Just a few simple techniques will help you enjoy all the benefits of sport. Massage and the use of specific creams are today essential allies not just of professional athletes, but also of anyone practising sport to stay in shape.

The Prizes

How to enter

Buy any Ozone Elite product from wiggle.co.uk to get entered into the draw for a chance to win these great prizes. Every product you buy will count for one competition entry each. Therefore, the more you buy, the greater your chance of winning.

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