Ironman Finland 70.3 race report: Emma Edworthy
What an amazing day it turned out to be!
Arriving in Lahti, Finland to wind and rain the day before was not the best. But as so many people reassured me ‘these conditions suit you Emma, you train in Wales’! How could I argue with that! Our apartments were about a 20 minute walk to where all the action was by the lake so after dumping our stuff we braved the weather and wondered down to register and meet Elo and Kim (two wonderful inspirational pro ladies) to drive the bike course. The bike course looked rolling with what us folk from Wales would call, one real descent and climb, so none of us seemed too worried, although bits were very exposed and we could feel the wind in the car! Funny enough though when we all talked about the course after the race we all agreed there were bits we did not remember – but then we did recall a lot of picture sharing of dogs. The night before the race was a lovely meal in an Italian with my wonderful support crew (mummy, Lucy and Christianne) and Elo and her mum – my diner consisted of pizza and lasagne and Elo’s was pizza with a side of plain rice.
So race day came and given how awful the weather was when we arrived I did not spin the bike on the Friday so I needed to do that as well as source some food. We found a hotel with a buffet breakfast which was amazing and perfect. Despite the forecast for an improvement in the weather, that was debateable – it was windy still with heavy showers. But in between those showers when the sun came out it was warm. I wondered how the long wait would be on race day, what with it being a 4pm start, but it was fine and I loved lounging around and relaxing. I literally sat in bed messaging everyone back home whilst my wonderful supporters cracked on with the alcohol at 10.30 in the morning – so proud.
