Whilst travelling to Greece I had a very bad race at the
European Championships fresh in my head. This memory was worsened by the news of being
dropped by the Dutch Elite team for the World Championships. If it was up to me
I would have turned my car around and hid under a rock somewhere for a while. But my life
loving coach was waiting for me in Greece with the only expectation of me to
finish the race. Which with the state of mind I was in was a challenge in
itself. If it was up to me I was ready for retirement.
I was travelling with fellow athletes and friends James
Walker, Johnny Perry, Llewellyn Holmes and Louise Fox. We had rented a couple
of cars together in Greece from which we had to endure a long journey on Greek
roads to the little village of Lake Plastira where the race was held. Very
quickly I snapped out of my sulking mood whilst hanging out with my “Xterra
Family” during our little road trip.
Lake Plastiras (Greek: Λίμνη Πλαστήρα) also called Tavropos
Reservoir (Greek: Τεχνητή Λίμνη Ταυρωπού) is an artificial lake fed by Tavropos
(Megdovas) river, located in Karditsa regional unit, near the city of Karditsa,
Greece. The lake is named after the Greek general and politician Nikolaos
Plastiras, who was the first to visualize the construction of an artificial
lake in the area.Today the lake holds up to 400 million cubic meters of fresh
water. It is used for irrigation and as a power source of a hydroelectric
plant,[1] but also as the main water source to the city of Karditsa. Due to its
altitude (one of the highest in Europe) the Tavropos Reservoir is a popular
tourist resort in Greece, as the formed landscape is quite unique. A perfect little
place for an Xterra!
I immediately fell in love with the location on arrival, its
beautiful surroundings and peacefulness dipped in the Xterra spirit made for a
very warm welcome by all the locals and a very easy acclimatisation. After a
long day travelling, Louise and I decided to have a swim in the lake and on our
walk down run into Xterra Legend Sam Gardner (also Louise’s Coach) travelling
athlete Will Kelsal and his girlfriend, and super star, good friend Helena
Erbenova. Old friendships were reinforced, new friendships were made in typical
Xterra style and I was very happy to be here and not hiding under a rock
somewhere back in Scotland.
Xterra Greece Head boss Konstantinos Koumargialis had done
an absolute amazing job with the course, accommodation arrangements, food availability,
everything was very well organized and he together with all the organisers
involved made sure we were happy and well looked after. Nothing was too much
for these Greek stars. I was living the dream for a few days!!
team Organicoach
The following days I took the advice of Nico and spend my
time practicing the course with my friends without worrying about the race and
I absolutely loved it. The bike course was great; it took us right up in the
hills with nice long climbs, spectacular scenery and great single track. In
typical Xterra style stories started to develop; vicious dogs chasing athletes
on their bikes, massive turtles escaping death in near collisions with riders,
giant snakes held under control by reptile whisperer Nico Lebrun on the run
course saving Kathrin Muller from being attacked.
Helena and Kostas
I really enjoyed spending some quality time with Helena, she
had been teaching her daughter English which had improved her own language
skills immensely and given her a lot of confidence in engaging in any form of
conversation. I met her properly last year in Italy, and having always been in
awe of her athletic performances it was great to get to know her as a person
and learn about her day to day life. I find it very interesting you can connect
with people coming from such different cultures and backgrounds; share a sense
of humour and outlook on life even though there might be a slight language
barrier. It’s a spirit which is recognisable and the key in forming
strong friendships.
Xterra Greece Crew
As usual race day arrived way too early. Nerves took over and
as much as I tried to fight it and Nico trying to talk confidence in me, my
last race was so fresh on my memory and as much as I loved this course I wasn’t
sure if I could pull it off. A talk with Nico the night before made me feel
slightly more settled. “we are taking a step back, it’s about finishing
tomorrow, I will chase you with stick if I have to!!”
Walking into transition on race day, the pro racks had given
our own name cards with our national flag on it, I loved this little detail, so
very cool!! Nothing to really write home about my performance other than that I
didn’t completely lose my head this time.
It was great to have Nico on course helping me with the race. I managed
to swim ok, on the bike I was wondering
why I was breathing so hard without my legs hurting and on the run I had Nico’s
wife Alex who was having a great race breathing in my neck which motivated me
to keep pushing. I ended up making a lot of mistakes which was a bit
frustrating. But I did what I came to do, I finished. I finished in 6th
place.
Helena, Kathrin and me
A race recap with Nico reinforced what we already suspected.
“after seeing you today I know it’s nothing physical he said, your training
performance and race performance don’t match, we have to find a way to unlock
your body”
Francois winning
Coach Nico
A great few days with awesome people, the love is back, I am
not quitting yet. It is time to train the mind. Next stop Xterra France."always believe that something wonderful is about to happen"
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