Report by Colm McCoy.

Along with two of my Lincoln Tri colleagues, Marie Dawson and Judith Brand, I had been selected as part of the Great Britain team to take part in Triathlon Long Distance World Championships in Sater, Sweden over the weekend of 3rd/4th July. Triathlon is organised into age groups. Judith and I were in the 40 - 44 category; Marie the 35 - 39 group.

There were about 80 of us in the GB team in total. In the race as a whole there were over 800 competitors representing 29 countries.

The first leg of the race consisted of a 4,000 metre swim. This took place in the clear but chilly waters of Lake Ljustern. Having to swim for over an hour in 17C (compare 29C for the average swimming pool), was too much for some and several competitors became hypothermic and had to be rescued. We went of in waves of about 150 with 3 min intervals, the girls starting 6 mins behind my wave. Despite my 6 minute head start, I fully expected Marie (and the majority of the women) to be out of the water before me. I was proved correct, Marie turning in a swim split of 1:18, to 1:25 by me and Judith. Swallowing an excess of water meant I spent 2 mins longer in transition than should have been necessary!

Next up was a 120km cycle (75 miles) in three laps of 40km over closed roads with sunshine and light winds. The course was undulating but fairly fast. I was eager to make up for my slow swim. Too eager as it turned out. I caught Marie at the half way point on the second lap, which meant I was 6 mins behind. However, I paid the price for my early enthusiasm when I was forced to slow right down on the third lap. Marie then caught me and proceeded to disappear over the horizon! The girl was flying. It later transpired that she had the 3rd fastest bike split in her age group with 3:47 only 50 seconds behind me. Judith also made good progress and completed the bike course in a very creditable 4:11.

The last lap was livened up by a localised but very heavy hail storm. Seeing several members of "Team USA" taking refuge in a bus shelter caused much merriment among Canadian and the European teams. Last to be tackled was a 30km (19 miles) run, which was 4 laps, again on closed roads, through the town of Sater. Sater is a small town, (pop 15,000) and those that hadn't volunteered to help with the race were out on the streets cheering us on, which by this stage was very welcome. Although the run was essentially flat, we had been racing for over 5 hours, and the run becomes a matter of survival. For most of us, thoughts of being competitive had long since disappeared. Although slightly disappointed with my final time of 7:47, I was quite content to have finished 36th out of 72 in my age group. Both of the girls fared far better. Marie finished an excellent 5th in 7:54 only 17 mins out of the medals. Judith's ambition was to finish in under 10 hours, which she managed comfortably in 9:18. Both can be very satisfied with their performances. In the end, the GB team picked up 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.

On Sunday, we relaxed by watching and cheering on the professional/elite race.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and exchanging war stories with Aussie, French, Italian and Swedish athletes at one of the post race parties will be a lasting memory.