Gorges de l’Archeche Triathlon L distance – 25 August 2016
by Vincent Brizon
After a wonderful holiday in the Gorges de l’Ardèche in the south of France with Fabrice, Guillaume, Jerôme (futur expat team member 2017), my wife (Manola), my 3 children and my dog, we ended our week with the Gorges de l’Ardèche Triathlon Longue Distance : 2200m swim in the river of Ardèche, 78km bike between the Gard and the Gorges de l’Ardèche and 19km run from Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche and Aiguèze, a beautiful classified historical town.
Beautiful race in a gorgeous region, amazing sensation. The swimming was very enjoyable thanks to a 23° freshwater. Cycling and running were very tough due to the hot weather (nearly 26° in the morning at 10 a.m) and all the bumps but the landscapes make up for it. Great organisation from the staff and a very warm ambiance for this 5th edition.
The start was great for everyone, water of the Ardèche river was warm and the decor was beautiful with the Aigueze Castle in the background.
Vincent came out of the water in first place with 34mn followed very closely by Guillaume in 35mn and Manola came out after 49 min.
The 1st bike portion was a little bumpy and the 2nd more mountainous but very nice view on the Gorge! At that time, the temperature reached nearly 30 degrees!!! Unfortunately, with the heat and the speed in the descent, Manola blew up her tyre in the Km 60, and realized she had no spare air chamber and nothing to repair the 1 cm scratch on the tyre ! So, she was very disappointed to stop at this part of the race.
The run is done in 2 loops with the crossing of Ardèche on boards laid down by the boats to climb above the village of Aigueze and join this magnificent medieval castle!
But the Heat is so important at this moment reaches 34 degrees!!! So our body are almost dying and cook under that sun ☀. 
Nevertheless, we finished that part … with cramps for most and a heavy strain for everyone!
The finish line was especially tasty ?
Vincent finish with the time of 5h15, following by Guillaume 5h35, 6h09 for Jerome and 6h55 for Fabrice.
