Rebecca Smith at Challenge Salou

I signed up for Challenge Salou 70.3 after looking for a race to get stuck into in preparation for The Lakesman Full. Salou is a renowned for being a ‘flat and fast’ course, boasts sunshine, palm trees and 2 weeks out from The Lakesman seemed a no brainer. 8 months on since completing Ironman Barcelona, I felt much fitter and ready to take on my first 70.3 race. The morning of the race I got to transition early to drop off my bottles, batteries, garmin and check that my wheels hadn’t popped overnight. My bike was racked on row 13 - unlucky for some but it proved lucky for me when it was the entire rack of bikes on the next row that collapsed into an expensive pile and not mine!! Phew! The Ladies Age Group category race was due to begin at 9am. Not only did this make a change from the dreaded 6am starts it also meant I could ‘relax’ and watch both the Male and Female Pro athletes swim. The sea was flat and clear and couldn’t have been better conditions. Having swam in the sea a couple of days prior to race day, I realised the water was shallow (for what seemed like forever!). With this in mind, I aimed to watch the pros to pick up any tips for the swim entry and Aussie exit. My first observation was that all of the pro athletes dived in early, only to then get up and run a little further before diving in again… and this continued a good 5 times or so. At this point I had a decision to make… either the pros knew what they were doing and this was the best tactic or they weren’t aware of how shallow the water was and were just providing entertainment for spectators. I told myself I’d run into the water for as long as possible before swimming.. which soon went out of the window as I performed the most graceful dive (arguably bellyflop) into the shallows and continued to do so until I was eventually deep enough to start swimming.

There were 3 buoys to sight along the triangular 2 lapped course; 2 in the water and 1 on the shore for the Aussie exit. I felt like I was swimming reasonably well around the first 2 buoys but when heading back to shore to start the second lap, the sun was rising in our line of sight so I took a ‘hope for the best’ approach whilst heading for the final buoy. I swam as much as I could into the shallow water before then jumping up and beginning to wade through the water to run around the final buoy. This was my first experience of an aussie exit and it did not disappoint, with huge support on the shoreline to cheer you back into the water. I did however underestimate this and hadn’t realised my legs would be good for nothing and my heart rate would shoot up (the highest my HR reached throughout the entire race!). I was soon back in the water swimming lap 2, at which point either the male aqua-bikers or sprint distance racers were also released into the water to start another brawl and keep things interesting - I hoped to catch a draft if anything! I finished the swim with a time of 38:06, my fastest OW swim to date. Having collected as many cups of water I could grab, I ran into T1 and headed towards my peg. This is definitely the most crowded transition experience I have had – There were no benches and everyone was on top of each other. Nevertheless, I grabbed my bag, found some space and got cracking. Having done the bike course in training on rouvy a few times and having joined a group recce ride the day before, I felt I knew the course pretty well. The road surface was fantastic, not a pothole in sight and although hot, the wind was well behaved in comparison to the Cumbrian coastline. The bike course was 3 30km laps, with around 3km of weaving through Salou centre, where there was plenty of support from spectators and then the rest on closed dual carriageways. My first lap felt that good I was excited to get back out there again! Whilst out on the bike course I felt I was never far away from a race official. On my last lap of the course one pulled up beside me and I 💩 myself!! Turns out a girl behind had been drafting me and it was her they were after! The sun was beaming whilst I headed back into Salou centre for the 3rd and final time. I grabbed a bottle of water to soak myself and cool down before beginning T2. I had noticed the course was around 10km short which did unnerve me… “how have I managed that”, “should I go and add a bit more on” we’re thoughts I had before dismounting my bike. Luckily, it was just down to roadworks.. and I wasn’t going to have a big fat DQ by my name. T2 was pretty uneventful, besides the quick wee whilst I changed out of my cycling shoes. I grabbed my gels and went on my way. This was the bit I felt the most nervous for. I’d been running well in training but wasn’t sure I could pull it off in a race. I had 4 laps of 5.3km to do along the beach prom. I set off at a good pace but I didn’t feel good and thought I’d eventually end up slowing down or even walking. I even struggled to conjure up a smile when running past my support 😬 Despite the demons in my head, I managed to tick off lap 1 and I knew at this point I had this. I’ve since been told I was running extremely strong in comparison to the people around me and I even managed to crack a smile or two and throw in some high-fives. I did miss the opportunity to walk through feed stations which I quite enjoy on a 140.6 but it made crossing that finish line even better because I know I went flat out. Earning a qualifying place at the Championship in Samorin is just the cherry on top. Think these might be my happiest finish line photos! Challenges Salou ✅ what a race!