2nd place at Zarautz 2014 for Fraser Cartmell
Zarautz Triathlon 2014 – 3/80/20k
Zarautz is a fantastic race for many reasons and one of those is the punishing climbs that feature towards the tail end of the bike ride.
Fraser raced quite a lot in Spain and spent a lot of in the country for training camps over the years. As such he heard lots about what is regularly described as ‘the best race in the country’. Usually he races 70.3 UK in June however this year he decided to have a change of scenery and commited to racing in Zarautz, which is on the northern coast of Spain – not far from San Sebastian. It is a beautiful stretch of coastline and a remarkable location for a race.
This race is essentially a half ironman event, but with a longer swim. Strictly speaking it is a ‘double olympic’ distance race and as such he felt it played to his strength.
Another nice aspect of the event in Zarautz is the point to point sea swim. The race starts on a little beach a couple of miles around the headland and you essentially try and point yourself towards the far off sandy beach and hope for the best.
He rode a fairly good tempo for the ride, which consisted of 3 loops in total – 2 of an initial longer lap with a sting in the tail shorter loop to finish, including two seriously steep climbs up twisty, narrow farm lanes. A real ‘old school’ type of triathlon course if you will. As you can see from the photo above there were good crowds lining the race route and it was clear that they love their sport in the Basque Country!
The support of the people were amazing at this event, especially along the final straight and the town square finish area.
Fraser seems to be satisfied about the 2nd place, but next time – he says – he will make sure to swim properly!
Photos: Sergio Nievas