Race day arrived with the usual Grand Canaria breeze and clear blue skies as we put out team kit on and packed the pockets with the usual marathon essentials, It looked like a good day to out racing.
We used these flat sections to try to get a break on Kerstin Brachtendorf who was following closely behind, but she was riding well at that point and the week of big rides was showing in the lack of speed that Jenn can usually muster on that sort of rocky uphill terrain.
Jenn was overtaken on a tarmac section and I decided to get out of the way and let her focus on the job in hand. A badly marked course where the lead motorcycle even took the Scottish rider, and eventual winner James Ouchterlony the wrong way caused Jenn, myself and many other riders to go a few hundred meters the wrong way on a number of occasions, causing splits in competitive groups. 
In the mean while Ruth and James were going through their own personal battles with the heat and the rocks, and both making good time around their first marathon race which was a completely new experience.
Jenn managed to pull back Kerstin Brachtendorf and held the lead up a granny ring concrete climb only to loose contact again on a ridiculously steep 1.5km long hike-a-bike section where shoe studs would have been useful.
30 minutes ahead of the ladies battle I had a slight fade at the hike a bike section but was refreshed by the very helpfull people at the feed zone, well placed right at the top of the hike.
A couple of power gels later I somehow felt awesome and hammered the rolling sections to the long valley descent to the finish, where I overtook 5 riders in time trial mode who even sat on then tried to jump me but I managed to counter their attack and put some fast turns of speed in leaving them well behind. I finished 11th overall (4th Master) in 4 hours 27 minutes for the 92 km course.
Ruth and James came in looking tired but pleased that they had completed the course in 5 hours 19 minutes (50th overall, 4th Female) and 5 hours 53 (78th overall, 27th Master) respectively. Ruth and Jenn did well in getting some well earned podium prize money whereas I just missed out placing 4th in the masters category.
I was not looking forward to the first few km of the coast road commute to the start venue as I would know if my legs were up to the 92 km or not. It seemed the short 2 day taper had worked well and my legs were able to stomp the pedals well without any signs of fatigue from the previous days long rides.
Jenn, Ruth, James and myself waited for the race to start and the lead car to take us out of the park and along the valley floor to the end of the neutralized zone. The civilized pace of the neutralized zone was soon shattered by a brisk pace at the front of the bunch. I tried to pace Jenn onto the wheels of the lead group but it was too fast for Jenn and a the Fiat Rotwild Kerstin Brachtendorf who was shadowing Jenn from the start.
The course gradually rolled up the valley on a mix of gravel road and tarmac sections where I held a comfortable threshold pace up a road section to a winding pass which was a mix of short technical rises with fast flat sections in between.
We used these flat sections to try to get a break on Kerstin Brachtendorf who was following closely behind, but she was riding well at that point and the week of big rides was showing in the lack of speed that Jenn can usually muster on that sort of rocky uphill terrain.
Jenn was overtaken on a tarmac section and I decided to get out of the way and let her focus on the job in hand. A badly marked course where the lead motorcycle even took the Scottish rider, and eventual winner James Ouchterlony the wrong way caused Jenn, myself and many other riders to go a few hundred meters the wrong way on a number of occasions, causing splits in competitive groups.
In the mean while Ruth and James were going through their own personal battles with the heat and the rocks, and both making good time around their first marathon race which was a completely new experience.
Jenn managed to pull back Kerstin Brachtendorf and held the lead up a granny ring concrete climb only to loose contact again on a ridiculously steep 1.5km long hike-a-bike section where shoe studs would have been useful.
30 minutes ahead of the ladies battle I had a slight fade at the hike a bike section but was refreshed by the very helpfull people at the feed zone, well placed right at the top of the hike.
A couple of power gels later I somehow felt awesome and hammered the rolling sections to the long valley descent to the finish, where I overtook 5 riders in time trial mode who even sat on then tried to jump me but I managed to counter their attack and put some fast turns of speed in leaving them well behind. I finished 11th overall (4th Master) in 4 hours 27 minutes for the 92 km course.
Jenn lost more time crashing twice towards the finish and badly knocking her hip, she finished 2nd at 4 hours 46 minutes but achieved our aim of a good overload week (The crashing was not in the overload plan).
Ruth and James came in looking tired but pleased that they had completed the course in 5 hours 19 minutes (50th overall, 4th Female) and 5 hours 53 (78th overall, 27th Master) respectively. Ruth and Jenn did well in getting some well earned podium prize money whereas I just missed out placing 4th in the masters category.
A great end to a great week, from myself I would like to congratulate Ruth and James for their hard work over a tough week, I think we have converted James to Marathon racing ;-)
Full results are here
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