In September 2011, Jenny and Stuart travelled to Las Vegas to compete in the 70.3 World Championships, having qualified by winning the amateur titles at UK70.3.
The build up to the race was a lot of fun. Staying in Henderson at a gigantic casino hotel meant that people watching was very much on the cards and as we all hit the spa for a swim at 7am most of the guests were heading bleary eyed to bed with very empty pockets.
The weather in the run up to the race was in the mid 40s and the swim was declared non wetsuit. The temperature cooled on race day however and the course turned out to be a very fair test, long steady climbs and fast descents.
The run was equally challenging with half of the lap uphill and the other half downhill, there were a lot of athletes out there who had got their pacing wrong and were struggling to finish.
Stuart gave himself a lot to do after the swim and managed to pull himself up to 18th in his age group by the end of the run. Not the result he was hoping for but a good, solid effort on a tough day.
Jenny was faring better and for a long time looked to be solidly in the top 3 but she faded in the last few miles of the run and slipped to fourth place overall. Still good enough for a trip onstage and a trophy but both Jenny and Stuart felt a bit disappointed by their results.
That didn’t last long as the delights of the Strip were there to be enjoyed. Extreme roller coasters, Elvis sightings and a trip round ‘Venice’ all added to a memorable trip, capped off by a visit to the Grand Canyon which was jaw dropping.
Full results can be found here.
If you like this, please share it!
Tweet
