Ironman Vichy

31 August 2018 - By James Montgomery

For the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 9 members of Witham Running Club had headed to the spa town of Vichy in central France for the Ironman weekend, incorporating both a middle distance in the Ironman 70.3 event on Saturday and the full distance Ironman event on Sunday.

On Sunday Alex Stuckey and Rachel Pearsons were taking on the full distance Ironman. This is a monster of an event incorporting a 3.8kms swim, 180kms bike and a 42kms run. For Alex, this was putting to bed the ghosts of Weymouth 2014 where bad weather saw the swim distance cut in half, so not truely completing the “Iron” distance. Rachel was a first-timer and would only really know what she had let herself in for at the end of a very long day. For many it would be a day of survival, aiming to beat the strict cut-off time of 16 hours to be able to call themselves an Ironman.

The event was pretty much as the 70.3 event the previous day, except it was double of everything. 2 laps of the swim, 2 laps on the bike and 4 laps of the run.

There was lots of nervous swimmers at the start, Rachel was definitely feeling it as it dawned on her what she was letting herself in for. The swim incorporated an “Australian” exit and re-entry between laps, this gives supporters the opportunity to see their triathletes and the Ironman tracker to more accurately track and predict an triathletes time. however, this is not popular with everyone. The tracking app became quite a feature of the day with us in Vichy and back home in Witham, becoming thoroughly addicted to the regular “pings” that announced an tracked triathlete had passed a particular marker point.

The swim, though long, is really just the warm-up to the main event and with both Alex and Rachel outoof the water, not too far off predicted times and safely into T1, both could look forward to the bike and the run. For others, even with the 2hrs 20 mins swim cut-off past, they still had a long way to swim and it seemed cruel that the organisers made them swim to the exit point knowing their day was already over.

Many triathletes opted for full kit change specific for the ride as this would be more comfortable than setting off in a wet trisuit, Alex and Rachel both did. This meant T2 was a little on the slow side, however, Alex took faffage to a completely new level by taking 16 minutes to exit on to the bike, either that or he was having a brew-up and a full English!!

With the day warming up more than it had the previous day and still early, it was time for the supporters to get some breakfast and much needed rest since it would be a long afternoon and evening. These things really seem easier to do than support! The riders were now out for several hours and tracking wouuld only be feasible via the app. The route gently climbs to around the 49 mile mark, when a sharper climb kicks in. The importance here is not to blast out of T1 but to work yourself into the ride and take it steady. There’s still a 42 kms foot-race to the finish line to contend with. This is most triathletes favourite bit. It’s where most of the training is done and where the hard-eaned is spent!

After 6 hours and with the riders nearing T2, we all gathered out along the river bank to see the first males and females fly through on the run and wait in anticipation for Alex and Rachel to appear. Alex finished his bike leg – we then had a “sweepstake” as to how long he’d take in T2 after his mammoth T1 time. With the rest of us being kind (although I went for 12 minutes), naturally, Liz guessed spot-on and unashamedly at 14 minutes!

At last, Alex came into sight along the river bank looking fresh, focused on the mission and still smiling. Rachel was next – was she catching Alex? Also smiling. The smiles wouldn’t last, that’s when they need their supporters. In Ironman, triathletes have their names on their number bibs and we were supporting and cheering for all we could read (but mainly the British….). There was Claire – the Air Force girl, Birthday boy (it really was his birthday), Chris, East Essex Tri man, the pirate and the man walking with poles but still going at a staggering pace. Then later, gathering around the expo area like wilderbeast around a watering hole, waiting for our triatheletes to come around again and again, Carina deciding it would be a good idea to start singing and dancing to cheer on passing triathletes and also to a group of very large serious-looking French army solders, carrying some equally serious-looking weaponary. No more coca-cola for Carina!

The smiles were disappearing, this was the long haul and why not everybody does an Ironman. It’s tough. All the hours of training start to kick-in and the mental toughness built up over 6 months is what gets you through the darkness that you enter in the latter stages. Rachel came past for the third time “this is really tough” she says to us. We know. We’ve seen it etched on the faces of all the triatheletes.

Then we moved to the finish area, Alex and Rachel were on their last lap and the party is starting. The thumping euro-pop music is turned up and the commentator is revving up the supporters, hand-slapping the boards as each triathlete comes home and clapping those who still have another lap to run.

First home is Alex, high-fiving and the smiles are back. “Alex Stuckey – YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”. Then about 15 minutes later, it’s Rachel’s turn. She sprints for the line, seemingly ignoring us, “Rachel Pearsons – YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”.

The pain will be short lived, the bragging rights are forever and you are both now in the WRC Ironman Hall of Fame, with Rachel being the first WRC female Ironman.

Sunday 26th August Ironman Vichy
3800 Meters swim/112 miles bike/26.2 miles run
Alex Stuckey
Swim:       01:19:22
Bike:         06:13:19
Run:         09:22:50
Overall:    13:26:10

Rachel Pearsons
Swim:      01:34:10
Bike:        06:32:50
Run:        05:12:08
Overall:   13:43:28

Comments

  1. Becky Grimwood Becky Grimwood says:

    Ah what a great write up Monty! Rach and Alex you two did so well. Huge congratulations again.

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