Hungary World Championship Long Course

Julian Taylor has being Flying the BQA Flag in Europe this Summer, this is his report from the Long Course World Championships held in Nagyatad, Hungary. Congratulations Julian sounds like a Fantastic but tough Event and thanks for a  GREAT race report, its always good to read your stories thank you for sharing it with us all!  

We already had our holidays booked , 4 weeks away around Europe , but after the Brigg Bomber race earlier in the year I decided to see if there was a possible race somewhere whilst we were away on holiday. And…there it was I have always wanted to do a Long Course Quadrathlon, so Nagyatad in Hungary was the goal destination and just having had a solid result at Dearne Valley Nationals , I was feeling good , but very aware of the massive distance increases.

I was very good, and didn’t let excessive training get in the way of holidaying and drinking and having fun in fact, I think I did 3 rides, longest 50km , three kayak session longest of which was 8k , and a handful of runs up to 12k  but no swimming! I did have a goal of being 1st in my age group and was fairly confidant I would be able to do that after looking at results of past events .

Two weeks before the race my Garmin gave up finally, and just became something to look at and reminisce about all the previous trainings we had done together so it went in the bin! This would be interesting with absolutely no way of checking time or distance for  the whole race, nor training beforehand . Quite liked the thought of racing how I felt which I do in a lot of in my training, never checking my watch till the end of a session .

Our travels down through Europe were fun, Netherlands Germany Switzerland Austria Italy Slovenia Croatia , and finally we ended up at the campsite in Nagyatad in Hungary, from where we could actually see the race center and finish arena! Plus next door there was a great swimming, thermal, fun pools all free for athletes .
A 50m outdoor pool , never with more than 4/5 swimmers !
Day 1 managed two lengths, then two more, then 6 more a grand total of 500m not too good. Day 2 in the morning, managed 10 twice for 1000m and same again in the evening. Day 3 day before the race, managed 20 then 10 for a nice 1500m, that would have to do!

We had also been to the race start 40km away where the swim and kayak would be,  and did a couple of kayak laps of the Island, a little swim, it was a great venue!

Registration done Friday afternoon, not a lot of English was spoken, but was assured that at race briefing in the evening, an English version would be done as it turned out I sat through 90 minutes of presentation and explanation, in mostly Hungarian, German and French I think, asked when we would have the Quadrathlon briefing to be told it would be at 7am tomorrow morning, just before we started ….Hey ho.

Just a couple of stats about the race – Only 11 of us in the Quadrathlon, it was being run alongside the eXtremeMan iron-distance triathlon, half-distance, and relays, so a few hundred athletes taking part!

Original distance was to be – 3.8km swim, 20km kayak, 92km bike and 21.1km run. However, and no one quite knew why , the swim was reduced to 2.6km, and the bike to 62km. I was massively disappointed by this, but only for around a fraction of a nano second, then was massively happy as my two main concerns were now not going to kill me off!

RACE DAY – So it was that our alarms went off at 5am Saturday, up and off to the lake 40km away.
Everything easily set up , and then waited for race briefing, which went ok with a lot of pointing, gesturing, and nodding. Long and short of it all was our swim would be starting with the all the eXtremeMan athletes ( …aarrgghhh! )two laps for 2.6km, then through transition and a shallow water start for the kayak and 12 laps of the island for 20km.

We had to count our kayak laps ourself, which was ok but the potential was there for mis counting as there was no official monitoring.

The swim start was horrible, it was a no- wetsuit swim as too warm, but it was chaotic , a genuine fight in the water, usual panic for lap one, and settled down for lap two .
Third place out of the swim in around 53minutes, and onto the kayak. Sore shoulders and a pain in the right one soon faded and I settled into a good rhythm and counted the laps off, 4-5-6 laps ok then some fatigue came and went, caught a few others, and soon 10-11-12 and headed for the shore . Out again in third place, I think around 1:57 hrs, but Ferenc Csima and Laurent Martinou were out in front by a long way .

On to the bike, and settled down into a very flat, fast, sunny and lonely ride. It took roughly a good 25-30km before catching the end of the triathletes then had company throughout to the end. I sort of knew the course from memory, basically straight back to Nagyatad via a sideways out and back route. I was feeling good, spinning rather than pushing big gears, closed in on the finish of the bike, then realized I had forgotten about another, longer out and back to do before the finish. I had got through 4 bottles of drink already and the heat was getting to everyone now 35degrees. This bit was a real struggle mentally I didn’t expect it, didn’t want it , and was hanging in to say the least. As always, everything comes to an end and into the finish arena in Nagyatad, bike racked , change tent , and out onto the run .

Jeez…no shade on the run which was x 4 laps around the town, back through the arena and eXtremeMan square each lap .

Lap 1 – no, we’ve come all this way so no, I’m not going to walk or give up. Lap 2 – feel absolutely grim, decision made to focus just on the next aid station. 4 stations per lap with hosepipes, drinks, gels etc . I ran to the next station, as soon as you can see it start walking, get as much fluid in and over you as possible , then run to the next! Everything felt just that bit easier, Michelle and Amelia were awesome throughout the whole day, I had to keep going for them. Lap 3 – a couple of km age group rival Karsten Mielke was walking, so I passed and kept going. Towards the end I felt rubbish, lightheaded, tank empty but the aid station strategy kept me on track. Lap 4 – out onto the last lap and barring anything drastic, I knew it was in the bag. Karsten was still walking it was going to be a long walk to the finish for him, but finish he did and well done to him.
The temptation was to go as strong as possible, maybe miss a couple of aid stations as the end was in sight, the problem was I was going as strong as I could, and already this was no faster than an easy jog, so keeping my plan together.

 

I came over the finish line in 6:59 hours ……. Another World Championship Age Group 1st place, so elated! It had been years since I did a long event over 3-4 hours, and it’s so much more in all aspects. I really did enjoy it, but with the heat it was a very hard , but very proud of my day out!

Getting to spend some time with athletes I’ve seen on results pages was great, everyone very friendly and supportive throughout and afterwards. It’s not easy to compete abroad, kayak, bike, kit and expense, but I as we were on holiday and already over there everyone really appreciated the fact that we had made the effort to do one of their WQF races .

I must say a big thanks to St Monica Trust in Bristol where I work, for their help towards expenses, and for supplying me with a new race outfit which was great !Also Alan Hunter, supplier of all things Carbonology Sport, for a great set of paddles C3, lovely to use, stiff, comfortable and perfect for a long event.

As always without my amazing family supporting me and putting up with my constantly changing sport choices, new goals, events and venues it would all be so much harder so a HUGE thank you ❤️.

Looking forward to the last two races of the season … Bude , and Brigg Sprint.
See you all soon, making the most of our holiday still got three days of sun and beer before back to the UK!

Jules

Long Course World Championship RESULTS