Mike Goddard competes for GB in the European Triathlon Championships

Here Mike recounts his recent experience at a wet and windy Championship race in Poland.

I just love triathlons, the thrill of the challenge, the stunning locations, the competiveness of three disciplines (swim, bike, run), and the ‘runners high’ at the end of the race. This time it was the European Olympic Distance Championships (1,500m open water swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run) at Olsztyn in the north eastern corner of Poland. After a gap of nearly three years with no overseas triathlon championships I felt woefully unprepared for a major race such as this and panic began to set in during the final few days – check lists prepared, covid documents submitted, accommodation booked, race schedule checked, kit packed and repacked, passport checked, training tapered, campervan restocked with essentials (beer, wine and … oh yes some food and water) ……

The 1,400 mile drive to Poland was an experience in itself and, in hindsight, probably not good preparation for a major race such as this.  However, the roads were mainly good and the experience of being overtaken at 200 mph on the German autobahn quite daunting.  Poland turned out to be a lovely country, mainly rural, with kind and helpful people and in places quite wild and remote.

But, oh dear, the weather on race day was a bit like a Scottish winter’s day.  The water temperature, at 11 degrees, was a tad cold, the air temperature at 11.5 degrees distinctly parky, and the wind a gale from the east (straight off the Russian Urals).  The day we arrived it was sunny and warm (see picture) but it soon clouded over and started raining by race day. So the race itself was a bit of a survival test and several competitors had to pull out with hypothermia. But then no one said it was going to be easy and I was lucky to be one of the survivors and came through as 6^th in my age group (the ‘very old’ group of course!). The swim was a bit like ‘life on the ocean wave’, the bike was fast, furious, wet and windy, and the run – oh the run – nothing like a Moorfoot training session, or even a Borders Cross Country race, think a Tuesday night training session immediately followed by a tough cross country race.

 All in all a tremendous experience, some lessons learnt (need warmer clothing for example) but so honoured to be representing GB.  Will I be back next year?  Well that depends on the qualification race in Woodhorn, Northumberland on 9 July so I had better get back to some serious training and hope that next year’s venue is somewhere a little warmer than Poland.

Mike