Marathon World Champs 2012 - Yolande Speedy

It's been just over a month since I received the exciting news from CSA that I had been selected to represent SA at the World Marathon Champs in Ornans, France.  Looking back on everything I'm happy to say it's been a good one :)

Just having come back from a disappointing SA Marathon Champs I sat down with my coach, mentor and inspiration @pcordesracing and we set about taking care of every detail for the best possible build up in the little bitty space of time remaining.

Together with a finely tuned and structured training program that had me in the hurt box on the finest climbs Pretoria has to offer; doing circles around our favorite speed session track, Pilditch; chasing wheels on EpicSport's Thursday afternoon technical outride or rather 'race' as well as a few sessions at the mercy of @francoiseberson sitting behind Sophia's wheel (his Vespa scooter) we started with cycling specific strength and core training that left me in all kinds of agony...

Fortunately @DimensionSport was always ready to come to the rescue with a welcome sports massage to revitalize my aching body and to continue with the rehabilitation for my wrist which I'm very happy to say is getting stronger and closer to its former self every day.

All this in combination with a strong focus on recovery and a healthy well balanced diet incorporating USN's advanced, all encompassing supplementation helped me to rebuild the final and yet most important component, my confidence which has taken a series of knocks this year.

After a full service from one of EpicSport's renowned mechanics my GT Zaskar 29er was pedaling like a dream and with a renewed sense of belief in myself we set off for France together with Nico Bell and Max Knox.

OB servicing the GT Zaskar 9r

Cycling SA took care of all our travel arrangements and admin requirements making it one of the best and well orchestrated race trips I have been on and again thanks to them for that and the funding that made it possible for me to go.

Arriving a week before the event allowed for a dedicated build up, preparing both physically and mentally.

Pre-riding the 1st 40kms of the course the Tuesday before gave me a good idea of what to expect and confirmed that we were in for a super tough World Champs especially if the predicted weather forecast of rain from Saturday evening held true! The women's 63km race which skipped out 22km of the men's consisted mainly of technical riding from steep rocky, muddy and rooty ascents to near vertical off-camber single track with 2300m of climbing.

The Race Profile

Sam Sanders joined us on Thursday evening and her and I went for a nice spin out ride on Friday viewing some of the historical sites in Besancon's old city and stopping for a cafe au lait at a French cafe. Just what was needed to calm the nerves that I could feel were starting to build up!

Sight seeing in Besancon

The following day we all headed to the course to register and do one last pre-ride on a section of the course to make a final tire choice and to know what was in store for the start or finishing kms.

With the prediction of rain most riders were opting for a knobbier tire. I decided to stick with the Continental X-King on the front and Race-King rear I had on running them quite soft for extra grip in the mud.

I spent the rest of the day doing final race prep, stretching and organizing race support.

Thankfully Simon came over to support Theresa Ralph and was quite willing to help Sam and I with bottles at the feed zone which would prove to be a life saver!

The rain started falling from early evening and I had a pretty sleepless night constantly waking up to hear it dripping from the rooftops and preparing myself more for the muddy conditions we would face.

The final hours and minutes before the race sped by; @Johnmark1001 helped me with strapping tape for my back, I forced down some coffee and oats, we packed the car, drove through to Ornans, did final race prep in the rain, watched the men's start which was 25mins before ours and headed for call up to the line.

Bang and we were off! The pace along the first rolling 8km was fast but not full throttle the wet, muddy conditions demanding full focus. With mud spraying up in all directions I was having to peer over my Rudy glasses to judge the wheel in front of me. I sat comfortably in the bunch though and thankfully avoided a couple of crashes that sent a number of riders scrambling to get back in the game.

Reaching the start of the first climb a rider fumbled in front of me and we lost contact with the front group, I got going again and settled into a fast yet maintainable rhythm up the steep rocky climb. I held my position and on the following technical descent picked up a number of places my XC skills coming into play and Conti tires gripping up superbly in the muddy conditions.

After the 5th water point 25km in I was lying just within the top 20 and pushed hard to catch more of the field.

Annika Langvad - Winner in the Woman's race

I was feeling strong and after taking a USN Vooma gel even stronger giving everything up to the top of the 2nd big climb which included a 650m 'portage' section up stairs onto the highest point of the course.

After a super fun single-track along the tops of the cliffs we dropped straight down an off-camber single-track that in the muddy conditions I didn't even attempt to ride. I went slip sliding down on my feet trying my best to gain traction on anything that looked remotely stable.

I made it down safely and going though the 40km water point thankfully took on a new bottle of USN CytoPower from Simon.

The biggest climbs of the day were now done but that made the last 23km no less challenging with crazy muddy jeep track, shorter steep climbs, off-camber single-track and thick clay mud that forced me to jump off my bike and run. I was very grateful for all the cross-training sessions as my legs felt good each time I started pedaling again after a portage section!

With 20kms to go I had caught another 4 riders and gave everything to keep my position hoping to reel in more but despite giving my all could not close the gap. Happily my GT Zaskar 29er handled like a dream thus far and continued to do so to the finish. I had no technical issues, my gears shifting well throughout the race despite all the thick clay mud that kept accumulating. The last 10kms had some of the slowest going sections through thick mud with lots of portage and ended with a rough, rocky downhill section leading down onto the tar and into the finish straight which admittedly I was very grateful to see!

Crossing the line I knew I was top 20 but as they had no idea where I had finished as riders from the women's, men's race and amateur race were all finishing together. it was only later that I heard I was top 15, a result I was very happy with and one I am excited to improve on in the future.

Now to recover and prepare for my next challenge, Cape Bridge Pioneer with Yolandi de Villiers.

Till then take care,

Yolande

For full results on the Marathon World Champs 2012 follow the link - http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTY1OTI&LangId=1