& 1st Jenson Button Trust Triathlon A week in the Alps and finally some summer. I had moved on from Geneva to the famous 21 hairpins of Alpe D’Huez and all 14km of that climb. It has been on my list of races to do for the past few years and now I was getting my opportunity. Strangely enough it was a mid week race, they have a long course race on a Wednesday and the short race is on a Thursday with a 2pm start time, only in France can you put on races at these times and still get almost 1,500 competitors.
There was a huge amount of foreign entrants, with a lot of people catching the end of the Tour de France and then picking up on this race.
The short race is 1,200m swim a 30km bike, 15km to the bottom of the climb and 15km up, followed by a 7km run at 1,900m. I didn’t change my training coming into the race, just treating it as another hard training day, it is always fantastic to train in the mountains and when the temperature is 35 degrees it is even nicer. The start list of the short race was a good list, about 15 ITU guys and some other long course athletes including Fredrick Van Leirde a former IronMan winner. As I had come out of the altitude house the week before I was not sure if I would be a little flat as the case can be coming out and racing like this – usually coming out of altitude you do either a three day drop-in or a three week drop into a race, if you race in between this time you can feel very flat and not race so well. It has happened to me in the past, thankfully this time I was fine.
The swim takes place in a lake owned by French energy company EDF, all of which means you can’t swim in there at any time except for during the race. Suiting up I was very happy to get into the water – it was 37C out there and 16C water was very cooling. I don’t mind it been a scorcher as I go well in the heat. I had kept an eye on Kane Simpson and Tom Davison as I know theirs were good feet to try to swim on. The gun went and we were off, I was in the middle of the line following feet. I exited the water with a group of 10 with a small group about 30sec in front of us. This had become a group of 20 coming into the bottom of the climb. My water bottles at this stage were like drinking hot tea, not the nicest.
The bottom of the climb and first 3-4 sections are the hardest and steepest. I took it on from the start with only Van Lierde and Davison coming with me, I was conscious of not going too hard at the bottom and not blowing up. After two hairpins the three of us were clear and Davison pushed on, I went with him and that is how the rest of the climb went, The New Zealander setting the pace and me just trying to hang onto his wheel. The heat was oppressive and as we climbed in altitude the air just got drier. There were two aid stations on the climb, I tried to grab two water bottles each time to dump over me. With 4km left on the climb I cracked and he moved clear of me, at that point we were been given time checks of 5mins behind the leader, we both though it was a relay team member but it wasnt until the 2nd transition that I found out it was eventual winner, Australian Dan Wilson. Tom had taken a minute out of me by the top of the climb but I was in 3rd starting the run and knew I could catch him for 2nd.
The run was painful, running at 1,900m was so tough, I was never able to get into my running but just kept on pushing. I passed Davison by 1.5km and just tried to push on a hard as I could. It was not pretty but I kept pushing and was well clear to take 2nd place. This is a great race but very hard, throw in 37C and 1,900m altitude and it just makes it the toughest race I have ever done. I have such respect for the guys who raced the long course race the day before, a 2.4km swim, 115km bike with three climbs and a 21km run
– perhaps next year i’ll man up and do the long course race.
1st Jenson Button Trust Triathlon
Awesome Weekend of swim bike run, great racing, great venue, Luton Hoo estate magical, Hugs from Jenson, An event that was really well run, pat on the back to all who made it possible. To those who gave so generously to the event charity, well done.
entries are open for next year here you should do it,
thanks to Vodafone for making all this possible.
There was a huge amount of foreign entrants, with a lot of people catching the end of the Tour de France and then picking up on this race.
The short race is 1,200m swim a 30km bike, 15km to the bottom of the climb and 15km up, followed by a 7km run at 1,900m. I didn’t change my training coming into the race, just treating it as another hard training day, it is always fantastic to train in the mountains and when the temperature is 35 degrees it is even nicer. The start list of the short race was a good list, about 15 ITU guys and some other long course athletes including Fredrick Van Leirde a former IronMan winner. As I had come out of the altitude house the week before I was not sure if I would be a little flat as the case can be coming out and racing like this – usually coming out of altitude you do either a three day drop-in or a three week drop into a race, if you race in between this time you can feel very flat and not race so well. It has happened to me in the past, thankfully this time I was fine.
The swim takes place in a lake owned by French energy company EDF, all of which means you can’t swim in there at any time except for during the race. Suiting up I was very happy to get into the water – it was 37C out there and 16C water was very cooling. I don’t mind it been a scorcher as I go well in the heat. I had kept an eye on Kane Simpson and Tom Davison as I know theirs were good feet to try to swim on. The gun went and we were off, I was in the middle of the line following feet. I exited the water with a group of 10 with a small group about 30sec in front of us. This had become a group of 20 coming into the bottom of the climb. My water bottles at this stage were like drinking hot tea, not the nicest.
The bottom of the climb and first 3-4 sections are the hardest and steepest. I took it on from the start with only Van Lierde and Davison coming with me, I was conscious of not going too hard at the bottom and not blowing up. After two hairpins the three of us were clear and Davison pushed on, I went with him and that is how the rest of the climb went, The New Zealander setting the pace and me just trying to hang onto his wheel. The heat was oppressive and as we climbed in altitude the air just got drier. There were two aid stations on the climb, I tried to grab two water bottles each time to dump over me. With 4km left on the climb I cracked and he moved clear of me, at that point we were been given time checks of 5mins behind the leader, we both though it was a relay team member but it wasnt until the 2nd transition that I found out it was eventual winner, Australian Dan Wilson. Tom had taken a minute out of me by the top of the climb but I was in 3rd starting the run and knew I could catch him for 2nd.
The run was painful, running at 1,900m was so tough, I was never able to get into my running but just kept on pushing. I passed Davison by 1.5km and just tried to push on a hard as I could. It was not pretty but I kept pushing and was well clear to take 2nd place. This is a great race but very hard, throw in 37C and 1,900m altitude and it just makes it the toughest race I have ever done. I have such respect for the guys who raced the long course race the day before, a 2.4km swim, 115km bike with three climbs and a 21km run
– perhaps next year i’ll man up and do the long course race.
1st Jenson Button Trust Triathlon
Awesome Weekend of swim bike run, great racing, great venue, Luton Hoo estate magical, Hugs from Jenson, An event that was really well run, pat on the back to all who made it possible. To those who gave so generously to the event charity, well done.
entries are open for next year here you should do it,
thanks to Vodafone for making all this possible.
