Two hundred races but Tracey takes it all in her stride
Congratulations to Tracey Sample who has competed in her 200th multi sport race.
Tracey who usually competes in road triathlons, took part in the cross triathlon world championships in blazing 31 degree heat in Ibiza at the beginning of May. Cross tri is 1km sea swim, 21km mountain bike and 6km trail run.
The race took in some spectacular scenery but was described as ‘a brutally hard bike course with rocky uphill climbs and technical descents.’ It was harder still for Tracey due to an injury to her hip and shoulder, which meant the swimming section had to be done with one arm.
Despite worrying she would be last, Tracey finished in 12th place, and had time to rest before her next challenge; the European Sprint Triathlon Championships in Madrid at the beginning of June.
The weather again joined in, this time thunderstorms caused torrential rain that was ankle deep in the streets within 10 minutes of the storm starting.
Tracey told the Ambler, “The organisers couldn’t guarantee the water quality in the Cassa de Campo lake so the race was changed from a swim, bike, run (triathlon) format to a run, bike, run (duathlon), but it meant we got to run up the hill to the palace and old town instead of biking up. Swimming is my stronger discipline so didn’t do as well as I’d hoped but it was great fun and I finished in 18th place.”
