26th August 2006 – Lausanne, Switzerland
1500m swim, 40km cycle, 10km runby Jen Milsom (Cleveland Bike Traks Tri Club)
A team of 4 ladies, 4 men, ably supported by 2 Team Managers and ACPO Delegate (Chief Superintendent) / taxi driver / bag carrier / interpreter / photographer, left London Stansted for Geneva on Thursday 24th July. Delays in the flight meant that we arrived at the hotel in Lausanne at around 12:30am on the Friday. The accommodation was arranged and provided by our Swiss hosts who felt that a hotel room for two could easily accommodate four people with a double bed and two “put-me-ups”. Fortunately the Chief Super got a room to himself and kindly donated all available floor space over to be a bike shed, and I’m sure his credit card will be able to withstand the additional charge for oil on the carpet better than any of ours! The schedule was brutal and we had to be up and out of the hotel to recce the bike course at 8.30am, so bikes were unbagged and unboxed and reconstructed well into the early hours and a few hours sleep gained.
Friday was spent previewing the course in the morning with a small gap for a cat nap just after lunch, a school dinner type affair in a large mess tent down by the lake, before changing into our smartest Police Sport UK polo shirts and tracksuits and 1 of the Team Managers in his best police uniform including big hat for the opening ceremony. Despite the Swiss reputation for accurate time pieces, most of the programme over the weekend ran late. Whilst waiting for the opening ceremony to start we were approach by a family of English with 3 small children asking if we were the British Team, then asking for all our autographs. One of the guys couldn’t resist teasing them by signing it Tim Don but they were so awestruck and made up by having their photos taken with us and wearing a police helmet that they didn’t notice!
My big moment of the weekend came at the opening ceremony as I was chosen (or was that didn’t step back quickly enough) to stand up on the stage and declare the Athletes oath on behalf of all the competitors. Whilst waiting in the wings about 30 seconds before I strode onto the stage the compere asked me if I “read French” for one horrible moment I thought I was going to have to dust off my best GCSE French accent, but his assistant hearing the panic in my voice as I said “un peu” hastily interrupted to say he had another athlete to read the French version out! Then it was back to the mess tent, for the “Pasta Party” aka a large lump of lasagne and a few bits of bread, before returning to the hotel for an early night.
Race Day started with breakfast at 6am and then a scrum for the buses to get down to registration. The races went off in waves with Police men going first at 8:30am then Firefighters men and women then Police women at 9:15am. The weather was dry and sunny but the wind picked up and the lake was choppy to say the least, our team consisted of two strong swimmers and two (one being myself) not so strong swimmers. I have to say I didn’t enjoy a single second of the swim which took me several minutes longer than it ought to for that distance, and I exited the water in 17th position out of 26, slightly cheered by this as I thought I was last by a long way, I ran up the ramp and into transition. The cycle section is usually my opportunity to gain some ground on my fellow competitors and round the 4 lap course which was alternately uphill, downhill and tight right hand corners, I managed to make up 3 places. Then back into transition rack bike, shoes on, helmet off and out on the run. The run was 4 laps of a flat 1.25k loop and I put in the 6th fastest run split, overtaking one of my fellow brits who was a stronger swimmer to finish the race in 12th place overall. The final results for our team were, Kirsti, 8th, me 12th, Kate 14th and Wendy 15th. The boys managed a creditable, 19th by Matt, 24rd by Phil, 37th by Duncan and 40th by Andy out of a field of 60. We were all pleased with our performances both individually and as a team particularly when you looked at some of the teams who looked suspiciously professional!
After a short period of collapse, we gathered our belongings and headed back to the mess tent for more unidentifiable food with bread. We returned to the hotel with high hopes of an afternoon nap, but by the time we had taken our bikes apart and packaged them up ready for the return and got a shower there wasn’t much time left before the celebration dinner. Police Sport UK insist that representative dress in style and whilst all the other countries were going out in jeans, we looked resplendent, if not a little foolish and overdressed in formal blazers and the girls even wore skirts! However being last in the queue for the buses to get back to the mess tent meant we were late arriving and all tables except one reserved for the organising team were taken, our attire did us proud and we blagged our way onto the top table, were served first with our meals and sipped wine with the race referee, before proving what high quality endurance athletes we were by partying until 12:30am (though we later heard some teams didn’t return to the hotel until 6am!)
Sunday saw us with the opportunity to be tourists for the morning which we spent going around the Olympic museum and watching the Citizens waves of the Triathlon, the same course as we had done the previous day, but for local athletes. Then it was goodbye Lausanne, hello London Stansted.
The whole trip was a fantastic experience, I have raced World Championships as part of the Age group team previously and the atmosphere and the support is incredible. But this was so much better to be part of a select team, looked after so well by the host nation and supported and sponsored by our own Police Sport UK and individual forces. There was also a greater focus on team spirit and friendliness with fellow athletes from other countries with shirts and team kit being exchanged amongst us. All that remains now is to keep training ready for the next one in the Netherlands in 2010!