In the beginning of this year I decided for myself that Challenge Almere would be my last race as a professional triathlete. I didn't want to pay too much attention to this, because for me it was more important to stay focused on the race then to pay attention to a farewell party. The result was the most important thing for me, because I would love to stop with a peak performance. But I never dreamt of a greater farewell race on the highest level in this sport. What a day and what a big party! I will try to describe it below.
It has been a while that I was so nervous before a race. I knew I was well prepared and in good shape. My preparation on altitude in the French Alps was perfect and I also continued to become better and better in the 3 weeks before the race that I spent in The Netherlands to train on the course. The last week, when I was thinking of the race I got a strange feeling in my stomach. I tried to stay relaxed. Saturday morning at 4 o'clock it's time to wake up. As always before a race I slept pretty well. At 5:45 I'm in the transition area. Since it is the European Championships they have to check our uniforms. Luckily everything is ok. I check my bike and do the final preparation.
At 10 to 7 we line up. We are presented 1 by 1 to the spectators and then we can jump into the water. The water is chilly but not too cold. At 7 we start with 37 elite participants. The swim went well. I stayed with Tineke van den Berg. I know she swims the same as I do and also the bike and run part are about the same. This might become a battle between the two of us, but we're not sure if some of the other girls will go with us on the bike. Once out of the water I ran through transition and jump just before Tineke on my bike. The first 15 km are ok, but then we turn on to the dyke towards Lelystad and there is a strong head wind. We lost almost 7 minutes during the swim, but after 30 km on the bike we are already in front of the race, probably due to the strong headwind on the dyke where it really is everyone for herself. But Tineke stays with me. After one loop of 90 km she is still there. So my tactic will be to keep pushing on the dyke in the second loop. Hopefully she will lose contact then. And she did. I got 1 minute and 20 seconds when we leave the dyke. And in transition zone 2 it is almost 3 minutes. But it isn't over yet. We still have to run a marathon.
When I run off the bike I can feel that I really pushed on the bike. My legs are stiff and full of pain. But I know that if I can run on high frequency it will be no problem. And so I tried. I could find a steady pace and I understood from the spectators that it went well. But nobody told me what the gap with Tineke was. Seven km before the finish line I asked Rob. He told me that it was more than 6 minutes. So from then I was pretty sure I would win this race. I started to enjoy the last km's. With 500 m to go it was pretty cool. There were 2 motorbikes with sirenes who brought me to the finish line. With 200 m's to go I saw my mom with the dutch flag and I grabbed it. I lived in a flow, but now when I think back I get really emotional. The spectators were amazing. It was one big party! My last race as a professional and I win. And as dessert I got crowned as European and Dutch Champion. Wow!!
I would like to thank everyone who have made this to a success story. First of all my teammates and the support team of the Trivio Long Distance Team. You have stimulated and motivated me the last 2 years of my professional career. Thanks for this. Also a big thank you to all my sponsors: Isaac, Xendurance, Sailfish, Fi:zik, Ron for Run, TAO, Suunto, C-bear, Tri-Sports, Trivio, Arena, Orthovision, Bont, CEP and Fysiosupplies. And last but not least my biggest supporter, coach, trainer, and the one who's always there for me, Rob. Without you I had never reached what I have reached now!