Your Pictures And Stories

This section presents an opportunity for triathletes to tell their story, be it a tale of woe or a tale of joy.

To add your story, or pictures, e-mail them to us

Testimonial – Barcelona Tri Oct 2008

In October 2008 Sports Tours Triathlon arranged for a group of UK triathletes to compete in the inaugural 2008 Barcelona Triathlon. Here is what some of them had to say…..

We had the most wonderful weekend in Barcelona. The hotel was perfectly situated for the triathlon start and registration, just a 5 minute stroll over the road and along the sea front. No problems with taking our bikes into our rooms – unlike other hotels in the area. The registration was very fast and efficient. The whole city is geared up for cyclists so the evening before the race we cycled the course on the cycle paths – a useful exercise because the route involved a lot of hairpin bends. There was a big dispute as to whether tri bars were allowed as it was a drafting race and I gather people who had integral bars were disqualified. The organisers couldn’t give firm advice. We did take our bars off and were fine.

The swim was glorious, perfect temperature for a wetsuit (i.e. not too warm) and the water was wonderfully clear and blue. The race started 1hr 15mins late and just as we were about to sit down for a leisurely coffee we heard that they had caught up on the time – our warm up was a sprint up from the beach to the transition area, the fastest climb into a wetsuit ever and then back down to the beach again just in time for our start. None of this mattered; it’s our problem if we can’t understand the Spanish language over the loudspeaker.

The bike course was very technical but the wide streets and beautiful city views made it very enjoyable. The run was, of course, on the sea front and, although it was about 25 C there was a breeze. Again, a great run, with views of the sea and even some shade as we ran through a park on the sea front.
Within an hour of finishing the race we had returned to our hotel, had a shower and were sitting in a fabulous restaurant in the sea front. I couldn’t recommend this event more highly, in fact we are going to recruit a crowd from our club (Sevenoaks Tri) to join us next year. A great race in a beautiful city. Thanks again

Kind Regards

Debbie Munton & Glenda Goscomb

It was really good and we both had a great time. The hotel was ideally located and they were happy for us to keep bikes in our room etc which was great. I think it’s fair to say that it all ran smoothly (apart from the Triathlon being delayed by an hour due to Spanish organisational issues but that was out of your control!).

Thanks for your help.

Pete Birch

I would echo Pete’s comments – really enjoyed the event and the organisation from yourself was excellent. One piece of feedback for next year was on the banning of the use of tri-bars on the bikes under Catalan triathlon federation rules, this caused some confusion on the day.

Regards,

Steve Dyer

Being a new event I was a little unsure as to what it would be like but Sports Tours provided all the information I needed and made the whole process a lot easier. The hotel was across the road from the venue and was very modern and comfortable and I would happily recommend Sports Tours, the event and the hotel to anyone looking to race overseas.

Paul Shanley, Tri247.com