I’ve mentioned before about the problems racing in different conditions on different courses and my last two races are a perfect example of this.

My first race this month was in the weird town of Tiszaujvaros in Hungary. I say weird because the town is in the middle of nowhere and was built purely to house the workers for a huge chemical factory nearby. Surprisingly the sports facilities are fantastic and the whole place goes mad when the triathlon World Cup rolls into town. All week before the race there are sports events and a huge noisy open-air party, which the whole town turns out for.

The race in Tiszaujvaros is always stinking hot with a flat but twisty bike and the most amazing crowd support. I went to the race with no expectations but I found myself in a small breakaway group of 5 after the swim. I would have been quite happy to jog around for 5th place but before I knew it my jogging had carried me into the lead and I won the race! It turned out I was fitter than I thought and the boiling weather (37 celsius) seemed to make everyone suffer a lot more than me. The annoying thing was that people kept congratulating me and then telling me that I should do very well in Beijing (doh!). I am the first British woman to have won 3 World Cups.

The next World Cup in Austria was only a week later. The race was in Kitzbuhel and set in the most beautiful scenery I have ever raced in….

The day before the race the weather was sunny and hot but by the time I got up the following morning the mountains were swathed in cloud and the rain was lashing down. I went to the start stressing about crashing on the bike as we were warned in the briefing that it was a slippery course in the wet. I had another good swim and I nearly got away in a 10-person break away but unfortunately another 8 girls caught us and we settled into a pack. As I rode around in the group I began to realise that the rain and the spray off the road was making me cold, really cold. As the bike went on I got so cold that my teeth were chattering and I was shivering so much that my legs were banging against the crossbar. Fortunately the run wasn’t as bad as I anticipated and I was quite satisfied to finish 9th in a tough field. The best bit of the trip was the party after the race in the local casino where all athletes were given free chips to bet with and I managed to finish the night a winner!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Andrea Whitcombes Online Diary, Athlete Diaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.