So I arrived in South Africa 4 days before race day. I must say that before flying out with the tendonitis problem, I’d felt quite depressed. I had worked so hard out in Spain over the winter months and everything had been going great and then these things just happen. On a 120k bike ride I felt so low I started to cry and had to turn back after only 10km. My heart just wasn’t in it. That morning I’d had a conversation with my coach, Darren Jenkins (Team Nevagivin) about pulling out and doing a different one a bit later when we had time to get the running back. But I had focused on this race for so long that I still wanted to do it.
When I landed in South Africa and arrived in Port Elizabeth I just knew I’d made the right decision. All the great memories from last year came flooding back and I really love this little town. It’s one of the best organised races and the logistics are totally perfect. The race is a very short taxi ride from the airport and the start and finish line, T1 (same as T2) is about 100 yards across the road from the host hotel. The expo, race briefing and awards ceremony are actually inside the hotel. It all works perfectly.
The only disappointing thing was that there was only one organised swim and that was the day right before the race. Last year we had all been removed from the water because of a shark in one practice swim so the thought of just going out every morning on my own was rather daunting. I hope this changes next year and we go back to having a group practice swim every morning from Thursday onwards.
There were also some major changes to the race itself. The bike course had been totally changed because of roadworks. This was for this year only and next year will revert back to original course again. So it took all the hills out but now the majority of the race would be one road that makes the roads here in the Uk look like the svelte tarmac on an F1 circuit. In other works, it was time to tape everything on the bike so it wouldn’t rattle or fall off.
The run course had been changed to a 4 lap course instead of a 3 lap course. They took out the dark, slightly hilly part of the run course that went to the university and back out on to the main road. This was because there was no street lighting here. It was also a lonely part of the race where spectators didn’t normally venture but I liked this bit because you could show the pain on your face here without feeling like you had to put on a smile for those watching and cheering you on. In fact it was this part I was almost sick in last year, but I managed to hold all the gels in and keep running.Without people watching though I wouldn’t have been too bothered about throwing up and just running on.
Bike racking was as usual for IMSA, completely organised, methodical and very quick. Everything in one place and lots of really lovely helpers around.