Xterra Greece, the awakening of a peacefull mountainous village by crazy off-road fanatics

 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 6^th place.

Helena, Kathrin and me

 

 

I walked straight into the always positive Kathrin Muller at the finish line. She had another stellar performance for the win. She has always so much energy to give and it was great to be in her company whilst being slightly disappointed after another underperformance from me. A great chick she is.

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

 

The organicoach team did brilliantly with Francois Carloni winning the race and Rory Downie coming 4^th and Alex winning her AG! It’s always nice to see people who really deserve it do so well!! In the females it was Kathrin smashing it with Helena coming second and Brigitta Poor for the first time on the podium in 3^rd! It was nice to meet Brigitta properly in Greece after seeing glimpses of her at races last year. She had an amazing race for 4th at the European Champs and now another great performance. My roomie Louise Fox had a very good race coming 4^th.The Xterra podium was personalised with cool Xterra trophies for the top 7, another small touch of Kostas and something which put this race miles above others.

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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Magic days with Aloha Racing and friends at the ETU Cross Tri Championship Sardinia

'All is not lost' were the wise words from one of the best veterinarians around, Jim Marks, whilst discussing the poor performance of a top class race horse with me. Many times I have told my race horse clients “a bad race doesn’t make it a bad horse”
To convince myself of both of those two statements after a horrible day at my biggest race to date was a lot harder to practice than to preach. “it’s just a race” said someone trying to cheer me up, a slightly irritated Maud Golsteyn also after a bad performance herself due to stomach upset mumbled “ it’s not “just a race” its European Champs, we will get over it but not right now, let us be disappointed”  While I was aiming for a top 10 result, Maud was looking to dominate the podium after a super performance coming 2^nd to Kathrin Muller last year. And she was so right, after months of hard training and commitment we were allowed our moment of disappointment.

The trip home after an awful race experience always seems to last forever. I had so many questions in my head without any answers. But to stay positive I remembered the reasons why I love this sport so much in the first place, the people in it,  and they didn’t disappoint last week, quite the contrary  and in the end those are the memories which will stick the forever.

Ian, Renata and me having fun on the beach

I was invited to join Aloha racing for a pre-race training camp, a small but super talented female only off road racing team existing out of Swiss Miss Renata Bucher, flying Dutch Girl Maud Golsteyn and Japanese champ Mieko Carey. Renata is one of the most smiley people on the circuit and is able to put a positive spin on any bad situation. For me she has always been a huge inspiration, and has pushed me to try be the best I possibly can. Above a great athlete and person, she is also a great friend and it was awesome to see her  smash her race and come 2^nd after an injury riddled start of

the season.

Maud and Renata

I met Maud  and her partner Lars last year in Switzerland and we hit it of immediately. A mutual interest and love for animals, sport, and other things in life made for heaps of topics of conversation and I was happy to be able to practice my Dutch again. She is one of the most earthy elite athletes I have ever met. She talks her own performances  down by saying “it doesn’t really mean anything” 
She doesn't receive the credit she deserves after many years racing herself consistently on the podium in duathlons, running races, cross triathlons, road triathlons and Xterra’s against stacked elite fields whilst maintaining a full time job. Her modesty and sober attitude towards things makes her even more likable and like Renata her positive spirit is contagious.  I am looking forward to see her race well this season and be put in the spot light for a change. I haven’t met Mieko yet but being part of Aloha racing I can only imagine she is just as lovely as Maud and Renata.

                                     
                                                        
the girls are very stylish kitted out in Coeur racing clothes and get their fast swim times by using Kathrin Muller’s wetsuit brand Mako. On top of that the girls race on Storck MTBes often posting the fastest bike splits in their races. They send out a message of being courageous, friendly, athletic and fun and loving their lifestyle of racing and travelling to some of the most remote beautiful parts of the world whilst doing this.

Other than the girls of Aloha racing we were joined by members of the Swiss team and their support network who were all great people which made the week leading into the race very enjoyable and relaxed. I was joined by my Organicoach team mate Rory Downie from Scotland, and for his young years he shared a lot of life wisdoms with me at moments I wasn’t the most optimistic about stuff. It was great to have him around.
The always energetic and bubbly Kathrin Muller wasn’t staying in the same hotel but joined us for meals and training sessions. A sporty fun bunch of people brought together by what we love doing most; a passion for the outdoors and sport.

Rory flying out of T2

So what went wrong in my race? I wish I could tell you, I felt great in training leading up to the event and had worked hard during the winter to improve my running and swimming. A big part of the problem is my own insecurity and the feeling of not belonging in an elite field of athletes.

I had major problems with my bike the day before the race which didn’t help the situation and I was so thankful for Rory being there helping me out to try and fix the issue with the local Italian mechanic. I was also battling a mild cold a couple days before but these are probably all excuses to make sense of a bad situation. I just felt awful from the 2nd boy in the swim until I decided there was no point. My first DNF in my 4 years of racing triathlon.

Kathrin Muller showed she is turning into a real off road specialist tackling this tough course in an elegant manner leading from beginning to end. Renata showed that she is back in the game after a month of no running coming 2nd and Helena Erbenova managed to get herself back in the race after she nearly got washed away to mainland Italy during the swim, coming 3rd. Awesome girls on the podium!!

Renata, Kathrin and Helena

Things were put in perspective for me after chatting with Helena post race. She had only just figured out that I have so many animals pictures on my Facebook page because I am a veterinarian. Very excitedly she wanted to know all about my job. When the topic came back to racing and I told her about my bad race she said "that doesn't matter, you go back to a very cool job!!!, I go back to the boring every day the same life, nothing exciting!" "no way!" I said laughing to her "you win big big races!!" to which she replied "in my next life I want to be an animal doctor!!" Which made me realise although I dream about winning big races and being a full time athlete, I am also very lucky to be able to combine the two passions in my life, and when one disappoints I have the other to fall back on.

Pre race banter

"All is not lost" another day, another race. The season has just begun, time to start having some fun!! Next stop Xterra Greece.

"Often in life we forget the things we should remember and remember the things we should forget"
 

 http://www.aloha-racing.com/aloha_racing/welcome_to_aloha_racing.html

http://www.mako-sport.fr/

 http://www.storck-bicycle.de/en/web0.asp?ID=1000

http://www.coeursports.com/

 

 

 

 

Podium in France, trails in Switzerland, a normal weekend in Europe : The Saugeathelon

The kayak leg

Time flies. I am not sure if it is something which you notice only when you get older as I remember the summer holidays lasting forever as a child. We are now 12 months on from when I wrote an article for Marathon MTB  http://www.marathonmtb.com/2013/03/28/taking-the-next-step-going-pro/  about following my heart and chase the dream to race at elite level. Its hard to believe how much has happened since then and how many things have changed for me. Literally my life has turned upside down.
I have moved countries, well hemispheres actually, changed jobs, changed coaches, made new friends, reunited with old friends, kept current friends, learned new skills, improved on old ones. The only thing which remained unchanged was the loyal company of my dog Fynn who I had brought with me from Australia. And that small amount of familiarity, having a trusted dog by your side is what can make all the difference on a tough day.

I have done this many times before, strangely it was probably one of the biggest but smoothest transfers I have experienced so far. It has made me wonder if I have become so anonymous that I can fit in anywhere these days, or have I finally found the right environment to do what I aspire to do. I must say training in the extreme Scottish conditions sometimes make me doubt that last statement!!

My buddy for better and for worse

Through the Xterra network of people I had become friendly with Kayak Olympian gone adventure racer, Scott engineer Alex Dimitriou, and when he invited me to come to Switzerland and race a multisport event just around the corner from where he lived in France, I was more than keen to use this race to get some speed in my legs for my upcoming season. As per normal anything to do with Alex feels like a Tsunami, 90 miles an hour, getting a thousand things done at once, from French to English to Swiss, multi tasking? Alex is proof that men can actually do it.I flew in on Friday night and the race was Saturday afternoon. Enough time to get everything sorted and for me to have a feel of the kayak as I had never done a race down river with rapids. Nor had I ever paddled in the type of boat they had organised for me. As per normal pre race things never go according to plan. Instead of practicing on the water, Alex was working on my bike to try and make it work before the race whilst my race nerves were starting to take over.

 

A snowy training session with Rory Downie

 

The weather was very Scottish, did I really get on a plane? cold, windy and wet. It was a probably a good thing I didn't end up practicing in the boat as I would have been frozen before the race even started. We only just managed to get all our stuff in the transition zones ready for the race in time. The river was high after a lot of rain and the rapids in full flow. "they are only little" says the Olympian Slalom Kayaker, hmm yeah right! My race nerves got worse when Alex started to point out some of the girls at the event as Cross Country ski Olympians, World cup competitors and trail run champions. I started to feel a sick. Nico had given me a few tips how to deal with this and to my surprise I found myself more relaxed and positive at the start of the race then I have been for a long time.

 

We started with a 200m sprint to the river bank and in these early stages of the race I was already lost trying to find the right boat, I recognised my number, jumped in, and off I went. Very different kayak from anything I had paddled in the past and before I even had the chance to start moving I was stuck backwards in the river bank, spectators were laughing at me giggling and with supportive cheers they helped me on my way. 'Race over' I thought whilst trying to steer this heavy peace of floating plastic. I was heading towards the first rapid and by complete luck I ended up in the line Alex had told me to take, whilst people were capsizing and going for a swim next to me I smoothly paddled through like a real pro, I was pretty chuffed with myself until one of the volunteers yelled at me that I was holding the paddle upside down. Embarrassing moment! I was hoping that with holding the paddle the proper way I was able to steer the boat easier but that was wishful thinking!

 

Post race banter with Alex

 

I am not sure how I ended up making the 90 degree turn around the final boy heading for land! I was aiming for one of the volunteers waving at me but ended up at about 3 volunteers down from him! but on land I was!! Time to start racing. I had no idea how far back I was, with the longer run compared to the Kayak and Mountain bike I knew it was a runners race and would need a solid pace to get myself in a good position for the MTB leg. I wasn't really worried about where I was placed, I thought I was too far back to make any impact on the pointy end of the field. Although my legs were cold from the kayak leg, I felt pretty relaxed. The first kms of the run was flat and I was running at a pace where I was wondering how long I could hold it for at any point in time. But I kept pushing and my body kept giving. Great feeling. Coming from the back passing so many people along the way was a huge confident boost! When other people were having troubles running up a steep slippery climbs, I cruised up, winter training in Scotland payed off !!! Roughly 1kms from the run bike transition I eased up a little to recover for the bike. We were on the down hill now and I made sure the distance between me and the two girls in front of me didn't get any bigger but I stopped pushing.

On the bike now and it was back to full noise, slippery, wet, sticky, windy, freezing cold and almost all climbing with some short, fast non technical downhills. A power course. I was still moving forward in the field and I felt like I had plenty more to give even though lactic acid was settling down in my legs properly by now. I could hear the finish line and people were cheering loudly. Race done.

I had no idea where I had come but I wasn't really worried, I had felt great during the race and that was all I was after. I was a bit lost at the finish line but was on a high. People were staring at me with looks on their faces "who is this girl". Whilst I was waiting for Alex who had to do two laps of the bike course I was listening into conversations of other girls finishing to get an idea of where I placed. I tried to ignore the guy with the microphone interviewing people as he was heading for me, I was pushed in his direction "deuxieme" someone said to me "who moi??" and the microphone was pushed in my face to answer a few questions, not sure if anyone understood my broken French including myself

 

Alex had a very good race for 2nd male just behind his mate Ivan who's girlfriend an elite runner won the female's event. I was lucky that the kayak leg was short enough for me to run myself back to the front and finish strong in 2nd place, with a 2nd fastest run split and the fastest MTB split. Things were on track and I was happy. I was surprised how friendly the other girls were coming up to me to congratulate me and sussing out where I had come from. A good way to practice my French!!

The day ended with a great catch up with fellow Xterra athlete Ian Pyott and his girlfriend who made us amazing pizza followed by icecream, with warm chocolate sauce and chocolate muffins. Great athlete, great cook!!

Recovery food with a recovery view

Sunday was spent "recovering" riding up the Swiss trails near Alex's place. The climbs were completely worth the screaming legs, the views were endless and the single trail on the downhill alone was worth the whole trip to Switzerland!! Buzzing. After the ride we had probably the only relaxing moment in 72hrs, engorging on pasta whilst enjoying a wonderful view on Neufchatel lake with the Alps becoming visible in the far distance. Magic.

The start of my cross triathlon season, great race, great friends, great locations. Although I have never been a big fan of super positive people because I always wonder "surely life can't be that great all the time" I must say for me, after a turbulent 2013, 2014 has given me a lot of faith. Life is good.


"never give up on something you can't go a day without thinking about"

The joy of racing

Nothing better than refreshing the mind on the MTB

 

Last year I tried to juggle racing MTB Marathons with racing Xterra triathlons and even though I was told this was not a very good combination to try make work, by more than one person, I was stubborn and filled my 2013 calendar full with races every 2nd to 3rd weekend.

I was alternating 100km MTB races with 3-4hrs off road triathlons and fitting in weekends work on call in between. My whole life was scheduled. And as a competitive person I wanted to do well and pushed myself to the limit to try climb on that podium as often as I could. Whilst being disappointed if I couldn't achieve my goals.

With an already tired body I followed the Australian season with the European season racing Xterra's and by September my body and my mind were completely and utterly fried. I had nothing left in the tank and although the experience in Europe was awesome, the results of racing with an exhausting body was not.

 

It took me a while to recover physically and mentally. I signed up with Nico Lebrun for the 2014 season who had experienced my personality through the Xterra season and I knew he would be able to help me balance myself better. When I told him my (ambitious) plans for winter racing and the 2014 season he very honestly said to me "what do you need me for? if you stick to that you will be dead before the season even starts" He made it very clear to me that winter was for sleeping, and that I needed to chill. I listened. And "chill" I did. Literally. Moving to Scotland and training in bitterly cold winter conditions was quite an eye opener, but the stunning scenery I did it in was like chicken soup for the soul.

Winter training in paradise

This year I thought it would be wiser to swap the MTB Marathon format for the shorter MTB XCO format to work on two weaknesses of mine,  1) my MTB technical skills and 2) my top end power. The first round of the Scottish National Series were held 10 minutes from where I live, it couldn't be a better opportunity to start my 2014 season; Trying out the MTB XCO format for the first time so close to home. I hadn't raced since September and with absolutely no race fitness or speed in my legs I knew this was going to hurt!

The course was already completely marked on the Saturday afternoon and very easy to follow. I heard it was one of the lesser technical courses of the series but whilst practicing it  my heart skipped a beat a few times!! I have this mental block with pure single track, you can give me the steepest, rockiest stuff and as long as its wide I am fine, but narrow single track and I am one of those people who rides like they need side wheels on their bike's!!
I found it amazing how much variety one can put in a 6km lap!! I really enjoyed the course with lots of different difficulties to keep anyone on their toes. I eyed up the two longer wider climbs as it was the place where I needed to make up time and tried to roughly memorise the course.

Pushing hard on the less technical parts of the course

Race morning arrived and I was nervous, not as much for the race itself though. I was nervous that mentally I would still be weak, I was nervous that I hadn't recovered enough from last season and that I wouldn't be able to push myself. Nervous that I wouldn't enjoy racing and finding out that may be that dream of becoming the best athlete I possibly could be, was not what I really wanted. I always get really nervous before a race, its something which affects my performance and I have to work on it, but never for these reasons. I wanted it so bad in 2012 and 2013 that I pushed myself through all sorts of pain and I wondered how much of that hunger was left in me. There was only one way to find out.

The organisers of the event did an amazing job, there was a very relaxed friendly atmosphere, instructions were easy to follow and before I knew it I was on the start line with the other girls ready to go. It was a small, but like always in these kind of events, quality field. Off we went and as always I got spat out the back at the start, I didn't panic as I was very aware I didn't have a fast start in my legs at the best of times but definitely not this early in the season. I tried to relax find some rhythm in the first bit of single track and waited patiently for the first climb. When it arrived I attacked and pushed as hard as I could. It felt great to be able to ride myself back to the front of the group. I tried to make use of the non technical parts as much as possible and pushed hard to make up for mistakes I might make on the technical riding. The course had a very nice flow and to my surprise I managed to ride quite smooth through the single track for a triathlete!! One lap to go and I started to feel the accumulation of lactic acid in my legs from the weeks training. The joy of a "training race" you never feel fresh at the start line! When I reached the finish I was very happy with the day, not because I came home in 2nd place, because lets face it the big guns were missing in action, but because I loved the race and although the faster crazier XCO format hurts like hell, I enjoyed pushing my boundaries again! The realisation that this is what I wanted and regaining the joy of racing made me very happy.

The whole day was very well organised, watching the kids race must have been one of my favourite moments of the day and I was very impressed with how smooth everything went. A big thank you to the organisers of the first round of SXC series in Forfar for a great event, I have already signed up for round 2!!

After a big break the 2014 Season has finally started!!

Oliver artfully dodges death

 

              

Oliver home with his family 

Most of us study veterinary medicine because we love animals. We want to fix things which are broken, save life’s or help animals in need. During university you don’t really get taught how to deal with “when things go wrong” and I had to learn how to manage it during my 10 year long veterinary career so far and even after all these years it is still something I find hard to get used to. Unfortunately no matter how hard you try, patients will die. Sometimes its known from the start, sometimes unexpectedly. The week leading up to meeting Oliver, I had one of those weeks where all my cases seemed to turn the “wrong corner” and being someone who has a habit of getting attached to my patients it had left me feeling empty.

I was called out to Oliver to examine him for not being quite himself. When I laid eyes on him my heart sank, Oliver was reluctant to move, trembling, salivating, his heart rate was very high and his heart sounds were muffled. He was breathing heavily. I had seen this before, he was showing all the signs of Atypical Myopathy caused by poisonous plants, this Autumn it had been mainly linked to Sycamore seeds but it has been reported with other plants, grasses and dead leaves. We had seen a lot of cases this year in the UK and mainland Europe. Often fatal, unfortunately our practice hadn't had any survivors.

Oliver’s illness was confirmed with blood results and he was admitted to our hospital 2 hours later. He was lucky to have parents who, even with the very poor prognosis I gave them, they were willing to do everything to save their boy. Oliver had been part of their family for over 20 years.

The previous cases we had with similar signs as Oliver would become recumbent quite quickly and I felt as soon as that happened it was a losing battle. So I made a pact with this handsome man, he had to stay with all feet pointing to the ground and I would do everything in my power to get him home safe and sound as soon as possible. And whilst I was wrecking my brain reading almost every article written about similar conditions and questioning all our staff at what else I could give him, Oliver was fighting for his life. The gelding was on around the clock treatment which was mainly aimed at supportive therapy, trying to correct the imbalances caused by the damage done to his body systems due to the poisoning as there is no cure for this horrible condition.

Oliver whilst he was fighting for his life

 Although shaking, weak and painful, Oliver never laid down. His recovery was slow but every time I saw him he would give me a little sign he wasn’t giving up, a little chew on my jacket, a threat with his ears back at my dog Fynn for wanting to steel his untouched feed, or just a stamp of his foot showing me he was not happy about being ill. His lovely owners made daily visits to reassure their beloved friend. It took 5 intensive days and nights to flush everything through, and get Oliver’s body system to resume their normal function again. It’s funny how excited vets can get about seeing normal looking poo’s in a patients stall! After a few interrupted sleeps my heart jumped for joy when Oliver greeted me happily with his head over the door early morning, instead of standing in a corner with is head down which he had been doing whilst being so ill.

Very happy to see him healthy again

Oliver showed us he is made out of tough stuff by beating an often fatal condition and made me remember how good it feels to actually save a life!! it was great to see him again happy and healthy 2 weeks after he left our hospital In his own environment.

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a  lot of humans" James Harriot

 

Chamonix, The Mont Blanc, 5 days of fresh powder and magic days

Trying to work full time and train full time means that every now and then everything seems to become  all about fitting in as many things as possible in the smallest corners of time.  The feeling of continuously being on some sort of a “schedule” has left me mentally drained from time to time. And although I love what I am doing, I was reminded it’s just as important to break the routine and live a little when I spent 5 days in Chamonix. 5 days out of my comfort zone trying to keep up with Greek x French Multisport adventurist Alex Dimitriou.

I had met Alex through the Xterra network of people but would have been barely be able to recognise him in a large crowd of people before catching up with him in Switzerland. Meeting up with relatively strangers seemed to have become a common factor in most of my adventures the past year!!

My Alpine holiday started with a tour around Scott Head Quarters in Switzerland where Alex worked together with two familair Xterra faces Peter Naegeli and Ian Pyott. Pete introduced me to the brains, designers and engineers behind the Scott brand. What a cool place to work!! A toy store for adventurists!! There even was a pump track in front of the building!! We left the Head Quarters loaded with Scott Skis, boots and poles which Alex had so kindly organised for me. I felt very spoiled; no stone had been left unturned in the organisation of our trip to the French Alps.

                        A view of the Mont Blanc from Alex's appartment
I woke up in Chamonix with a view of the Mont Blanc, the skies were blue and the sun was shining, my heart skipped a beat. I had skied one day in the last 4 years and it had been more than 15 years since I had spent time in the French Alps, I felt very nervous and excited at the same time. There was no room for faffing about with my new friend Alex. As I only just left the apartment, he would be already at the bus stop. In the rush of trying to keep up with him I even followed the wrong “yellow jacket” onto a chair lift. The normally very chatty GreekxFrenchman seemed extremely quiet which made me start to think I had said something to offend him, until I realised half way up the mountain I was sitting next to a complete stranger!!

                                 

 We spent the morning on the groomed slopes for Alex to see what my level of skiing was and for me to find my ski mojo. It was such a bright day and the snow was perfec. Paradise. After a good 4hrs of skiing we started our “promenade”.  Immediately I was pushed out of my comfort zone walking up the Mountain on skis with skins. And I realised a “promenade” was “ski mountaineering” in disguise. Walking up on skis felt very strange and I expected to slide backwards all the time. Although I had fallen in love with the Scott freestyle skis I was using, they were not ideal for this sort of stuff and I found it hard work with the heavy skis and heavy ski boots.  As the gradient became steeper and more technical I started to lose confidence. We were half way up the face of the mountain when I started to feel anxious.  Alex tried to relax me and explain nothing could really happen, yet I felt that with every move I could fall down at 90 miles per hour, and I was close to tears. I couldn’t move and as my body started to shake, I doubted Alex’s decision to take me here. I felt stuck. I decided to take the skis off and climb up instead. There was a path, basically steps were other people had gone before and with hand and feet I made my way up repeating to myself “mind over matter” with every step I took.” Don’t look up, don’t look down just keep going”. I heard Alex’s voice reassuring me. As I got higher the gradient got steeper and the snow got icier, a massive rush of adrenaline every time my ski boot slipped. “mind over matter, mind over matter, mind over matter"

                            We got rewarded with fresh powder on the way down

 When I threw myself over the other side of the Mountain at the top I was relieved to see that it was nowhere near as steep. And slowly I felt my body relax again. I waited for Alex, it was amazingly quiet and indescribably beautifully peaceful.  The hardest part of our adventure was completed and I enjoyed every minute of the remainder of our “promenade”. It was breath takingly magical.

No visibility high up the mountain

 

The next day we woke up to no view at all and instead of blue skies there were grey clouds and heavy snow. It was windy, cold, wet with no visibility. This did not stop Alex. Groomed slopes were not for him, so he took me for another adventure away from the normal runs. High up the mountain I couldn’t see a thing, and although my Scott skis were amazing to handle, the steepness of it all in the deep snow made me feel completely out of control. “merde” I heard another struggling skier mumbling.  Exactly my thoughts. Alex was a small dot in the far distance going down with ease. He was hard to keep up with on a sunny day let alone in these conditions. I started to feel slightly agitated “I wouldn’t have taken you here if you weren’t able to do it, you were fine yesterday on similar descents” he defended himself when I was questioning his choice of plans. “hmm yes, yesterday there were blue skies and you could see!! “ I mumbled. It was tense for a while.  Alex wasn’t taking any of my lack in confidence and instead he pushed me to practice and learn how to ski properly in knee deep powder. “why complain you can’t do it, just learn how to do it” was his attitude. This time he took me down a less steep part of the mountain with the option of taking the groomed way down if I found it too much. The snow was amazingly soft and with a bit of guidance from Alex I started to embrace the deep snow, I somehow got the hang of it and I got such a boost from being able to do it and not giving up! It was snowing heavily, no visibility, yet I was throwing myself down the mountain and loving it!! My confidence grew and I couldn’t get enough of it!! This was winter heaven!

 

                                       Happy days in powder heaven

When I had been talking about coming to Chamonix to Alex there had been only one hiccup about the timing of the weekend I had in mind. There was a cross country skiing mountaineering race on. No problem I said, I will enter also. “have you xc skied before, like the skating discipline” “no but I can ski and I can skate so I will be fine” Lucky Alex was a lot wiser than me and teamed me up with his friend Anne Klaye for the shorter event whilst I was ready to sign up for the long version.

                                       Alex and Luc taking the win

Race day arrived and I had practiced the cross country skiing twice. I found it quite hard balancing on the skinny skating skies but was hoping my fitness would get me through the race. Thank god I had such a fun, patient team mate in Anne, the course was brutal for a beginner like me. I went around like Bambi, up steep hills and down even steeper ones, completely out of control, legs and arms going everywhere hoping I would find a soft landing somewhere. Although I did think at one stage I would never reach the finish line, my competitive side pushed me to my max and I hit the snow quite hard a couple of times! Bruised and battered I battled on. Unfortunately for the ones behind me I took out a whole train of people in one crash. Great way to get rid of some of the competition!! I was lucky to experience another beautiful sunny day with beautiful scenery surrounded by beautiful people. Alex and his team mate Luc took out the men’s event and Anne and I finished mid field! A day for smiles all around!

 

                                              Anne and I finishing mid pack
A big thanks to Alex for organising an awesome week and challenging me in ways I haven't been challenged for a long time! And Anne for being so patient with me and being a great race partner! Again a trip to remember and friends made for life. Happy days

"Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively." Roosevelt

 

 

 

 

 

 

A sporty family called XTERRA

XTERRA European Series Podium 2013

Many years ago I got talked into doing a race, I rode horses back then so I did not run or swim, I did ride a little on the MTB for fun. I was naïf enough to think elite athletes were extremely talented and never did I ever think they would train as many hours as they do to be as good as they are. My good friend, super veterinarian athletic mother of two, Karen Holmes showed me the brochure for the race she had in mind. It was Xterra NZ. My first introduction to triathlon. How hard can it be I thought, I can swim 1500m (even though it was a self-made version of breast stroke) I can MTB 30kms and I can run 11kms. I had never attempted this back to back in the form of a triathlon and it didn’t even come to mind it would be any harder. Before the race someone said to me “you know Nienke, some people train years for this” I wasn’t arrogant about thinking I could do it without any training, it was purely ignorance. And in this case ignorance wasn’t bliss

Xterra NZ

A cool story would have been that I ended up a freak of nature and smashed the race, but that is not what happened.  Underprepared doesn’t even come close to describe my overall state before the event. The good thing was that I was oblivious about the pain I was going to inflict on myself. The obvious happened, I nearly drowned in the swim trying to avoid all the smashing arms around me. I was gasping for air dealing with the very cold temperatures of the lake having borrowed a too large sleeveless wetsuit. I barely survived many near death experiences on the bike course trying to master drop offs, cliffs, and heart breaking climbs. And the run, well I am not even sure if you could call it running, I cramped in areas I never knew I had muscles and I was barely moving towards the end. Race nutrition? What do you mean race nutrition? The only thing that kept me going was an advertisement I had read as part of the race pack with Olympic Gold Medallist Triathlete Hamish Carter in which it quoted “finishing is over the finish line” I repeated that in my head over and over again, even out loud towards the last kms of my 4hrs long struggle. I had to throw up straight after the race. Never Again.

Helena Erbenova and me

"Never Again" couldn't have been further from the truth. Xterra never really left my mind and after years of following my veterinary career around the World, I came back for it.  When I got qualified for the World Champs in Maui in 2009 as an age grouper, I decided I needed a coach as I didn’t think swimming the whole 1500m in breaststroke was appropriate for a World Championship.  I learnt that going out for a ride on the weekend every now and then wasn't classified as real training. My baggy shorts were swapped for fashionable lycra.  And with a 4 month crash course in how to train (swim) and race whilst working full time with the help of Scottish coach Alister Russel, I got a top ten finish in my AG in Maui. I was hooked and wanted more. We are now 4 and a half years later and I am preparing myself for my 2^nd XTERRA season in the pro category, juggling the stresses of being a veterinarian with the dedication required to race at elite level. But the hard work is all worth it.

Cedric Lassonde and Llwellyn Holmes

What is it that makes XTERRA so special and why do I find the sport so inspiring? Why do I push myself to near death on brutally tough courses and when crossing the finishing line completely in the hurt box I am inspired to do it all over again (but then better)  a week later?  Psychiatrists might have a better chance of getting to the bottom of this than I do.

Xterra UK Prizegiving

I got a real taste for what it meant to be part of the Xterra family experiencing the support I got from everyone involved racing on the Xterra European tour for the first time this summer. Without any prerequisites I was immediately accepted into the core group of Xterra fanatics and made close friendships with supporters, athletes, and organisers all bonded by a key factor, a passion for off road adventures. Very quickly I learned that many top Xterra athletes have other professions to finance their passion. In the bunch of pro’s I met on tour there is a wood worker, a DJ, psychologist, massage therapist, teacher, an actress, stunt woman, personal trainers, coaches and numerous more I haven’t found out about yet. Some may say that this makes the sport less professional and underdeveloped, but I find it opens the sport to more interesting individuals.

Kathrin Muller Chantell Widney Renata Bucher

The camaraderie that exists between the XTERRA athletes was really an eye opener; I had experienced a not so friendly environment in road triathlon and MTB at higher level before. Every XTERRA race is on a different type of course suiting different types of strengths. I feel the competition is more against the terrain than against different individuals.  This makes the sport very friendly. The adventurous nature of the 3 disciplines, open water swim, Mountain bike and trail running attracts similar minded people; it’s not about sheer speed, but a lot more about being creative, problem solving, technical ability and strength which rewards personality traits  I find inspiring. The word PB does not exist in Xterra as the courses all over the world are incomparable and the conditions vary from year to year making a race completely dry one year to crazy muddy the next. You never know what to expect. And when it all goes wrong a good sense of humour and pure determination is what gets you home. For all of these reasons combined I love Xterra and would highly recommend to give any of the races on the Xterra World Tour a go, there is something in it for everyone. My sport, my passion.

Xterra Italy pre race banter with Renata, Helena, Niko and Bartoz

Here is what some of the familiar faces of XTERRA have to say:

                                                                
Nico Lebrun: Xterra World Champion 2005, 35 wins and 41 podiums on the Xterra World Tour

XTERRA attracts down to earth, friendly people, there seems to be no room for big ego’s. The races are set in beautiful locations, the courses are hard but good fun at the same time it’s always great having a beer with Big Kahuna Dave and the end of a race.

Conrad Stoltz : Olympian, 7 times Xterra World Champion

XTERRA, like the ABSA Cape Epic, has become the new “golf.” It is fashionable and the “new thing to do” for many reasons: Its challenging, its exciting, its outdoors, its nature friendly, its great for health and  well being, its family friendly and yes, most of us just love suffering…

Lesley Paterson : Two times Xterra World Champion, Multiple Xterra World Tour Winner
When I looked up Xterra, I almost fell off my chair with excitement. I just knew it was for me. Xterra is everything I always thought triathlon should be. I grew up in the rugged outdoors of Scotland with beautiful challenging scenery and that’s Xterra all over. Somehow, you honestly do feel like you’re not racing your competitors, you’re racing the terrain! ITU seems so clean, polished and urban that it has taken the spirit out of triathlon!

Helena Erbenova : Olympian, ITU World Champion Cross triathlon, World Champion Winter triathlon and winner of the Xterra European Series

Due to Xterra I have been to places I would normally never visit, and they have always been stunning. For me the people is what makes Xterra most beautiful, the athletes and organisers are very friendly. I find there is a big difference between XTERRA and ITU where I am bound by strict rules. Xterra has opened new possibilities for me which I never dreamed of. It forces me to work on myself and always try to improve. Xterra means very much to me and I am glad my own counry the Czech republic runs the Xterra series.

Kathrin Muller : 2013 ETU Cross Triathlon Champion, 2013 Celtman Champion, former ITU champion
I am from an ITU background where it’s all about speed and being very competitive against other athletes, in Xterra the course plays a major role. It’s a mix out of adventure, hard work, staying alive and finally doing all of this better than anyone else. I enjoy the nature elements in Xterra whilst seeing beautiful places and surrounded by all sorts of people I haven’t met before. You experience a mix of high athletic performance and fun




http://www.xterraplanet.com/races/global_tour.cfm

http://nico-lebrun.com/

http://www.conradstoltz.com/

http://www.lesleypaterson.com/

http://www.cedriclassonde.com/

https://twitter.com/llewellynholmes