Olympic Triathlon des Corsaires – Socoa (64) – June 17th 2017
Race reporter Constance
On Saturday 17th of June, I took part of the Olympic Triathlon des Corsaires in Socoa which was 1,5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run.
I chose to come back to the South West of France and do that race for the 2nd time in-a-row because it was my 2016 highlight race with such beautiful landscapes. What I love about this event is that it starts with the XS race in the afternoon, where usually my sister, brother and dad do and then the Olympic distance follows from 6pm til the late evening.
I really enjoyed doing that race for the 2nd time, as I knew the path, the difficul
ties but also the beauty of it!
What I also remembered was the number of hours to get there by train. But this time thankfully I didn’t have to take my bike as my sister lent me her road bike.
After cheering my family on, I knew it was my turn to put on my bib number and just enjoy the rest!
Jumping into the water was fun but it got harder after 100m, I was squeezed between a million triathletes. Alright, maybe not, but I panicked. I almost forgot that feeling as my last triathlon in May used the rolling-start method.
The good thing when you let everybody go first, is that you have space. I was not there to perform but to enjoy. And I really did. I swam the first lap of 750m then went out of the water, waived at my family and went back to the water for another 750m.
The bike part was not easy. In fact, it was 3 laps of 13km with 600m D+. With no real intense bike training after my Half Ironman in May, I was missing a bit of energy and speed. The thing is, you had to cycle from Socoa to Hendaye, one beach to another, can you imagine the view? From hills to slopes, you got to meet the other triathletes and say hi to the first ones.
Once the bike part was over, I starting running quite fresh and decided not to look at my Garmin at all but just go with the flow. And it worked! I felt so well during the 3 laps of 3km, again from little hills to slopes, at sunset.
I finished the race in 3h12min at 10pm. At the finish line, no medal, tee-shirt but smiles and accomplishments.
We finished the day eating tacos at midnight in Garage Renaud in Saint-Jean-De-Luz which is 5min far for the race.
Please do it next year!
Constance
