“Nats and the Neoprene Gladiators”

Race report from IM70.3 Portugal Cascais Sat 21st Oct 2023

I entered IM70.3 Portugal Cascais as a result of a Facebook group called PARC that I’m a member of. It’s a community of fellow triathletes that help and support each other and generally have a bit of craic!

The idea of doing IM/IM70.3 Portugal was suggested and approx 20 of us took the bait! The thought of a nice trip to warm sunny Portugal in Oct at the end of a busy season was very appealing! Ok, so I’d have to swim 1.9km, bike 90km and run 21km whilst I was there but a swim in warm calm sea and a bike / run in nice warm weather, with a few days sunbathing either side of the race, what’s not to like?! Little did I know that someone or something called Babette was going to have other ideas about that!

5 national series races, 3 cycling sportives and 1 IM70.3 later, with 4 cancelled / shortened swims and some pretty crappy weather all round, Portugal was looking even more appealing! I had Cascais set up on the weather app on my phone for weeks in advance and the weather was looking glorious. That was until Babette decided to come along. With less than a week to go, the forecast for race week changed dramatically with sunshine replaced by wind, rain, risk of flooding, a moderate to severe coastal event with risk to life and warnings to protect oneself! You couldn’t make it up!! Disaster! At one stage I was actually contemplating not going ! After the rubbish season we had here weather wise, the thought of trekking all the way to Portugal to face yet another cancelled swim and/or race in miserable weather, was not appealing.

Most people in the group arrived over to Cascais either on the Wed or Thurs of race week. The race was on Sat, Alan (my Hubbie) and I arrived over on the Wed. The weather was warm and sunny. We checked into the hotel and then headed to registration to pick up my race no., etc. before hitting the IM merchandise store to part with vast quantities of euro buying more over priced IM gear that I need like I need a hole in the head (it’s not about need …. it’s about want). Wednesday evening was uneventful. Dinner in the hotel and off to bed early after the day’s travel.

Thursday morning was like waking up in another country!   We woke to the sound of rain and the wind was starting to pick up. After brekkie it was time to go pick up my bike from the Team Truck crew (I shipped my tt bike over with them rather than take it on the plane). The rain had stopped so we headed off on foot. Soon after picking up the bike and on the way back to the hotel, the rain started again. It was bucketing down and the wind was really picking up. We hoofed it back to the hotel and just in time.   Within an hour or so of arriving back to the hotel, it was a full on storm! Lashing rain, high winds and the sea was mental, I’ve never seen waves as big! That continued for the rest of the afternoon. We were hearing about flights having problems landing in Lisbon, with at least one diverted to Faro.  By late afternoon, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. It was still a bit windy but I decided to go for a quick dip in the sea around in the sheltered bay of Cascais as I just wanted to get a feel for the water temp. I had a nice swim along with a few other people and then back to the hotel for dinner.

Fri morning was a lot better, the rain had stopped and the wind had eased considerably. We decided to go for a short spin on the bikes, just a few km out the bike route to make sure all was ok with my bike. We had a nice spin along the stunning coastline heading north out of Cascais to Guincho. We spotted incredible waves along the coast, an absolute surfers paradise.  I had a short run off the bike when I got back and then it was time to get everything sorted for the bag and bike drop off at transition. I headed off for dinner in the hotel and off to bed early in preparation for race day tomorrow.

I had a 5am alarm call on Sat and I was happy to see the weather was ok, dry, warm and no wind to speak of. Owing to the proximity of our hotel to the IM70.3 transition, I was able to drop my bits and pieces (nutrition, bottles, Garmin, etc) into transition and then come back to the hotel for brekkie before heading down to the swim start. That worked really well and meant no hanging around getting cold or queuing at portaloos before for the start. Once down at the swim start, it was a quick change into the wetsuit, a goodbye to Alan and off into the swim start pens.

Paul Kaye was the main announcer for the day and his pre race start speech was something else! Epic! I’ve never experienced anything like it, such powerful stuff! If you weren’t in tears, you were very close to it! If you get a chance, have a listen to it on the Ironman Portugal Facebook page.  AC/DC Thunderstruck kicked off and the 'neoprene gladiators' were off!

The Swim:

I went in the 40min swim time pen, so it was awhile before I crossed the start line and got going. The water temp was lovely and there was only a bit of chop as you swam further out of the bay. The buoys on the way out were big and easy enough to sight but the 5 orange ones on the way back were smaller and harder to see especially with the chop on the water. Despite that, I had a great swim, better than expected (37mins). The run up to T1 was long, a good 250-300m.

The Bike:

Quick change into the bike gear and out onto the bike. The first 25-35km were hilly with some fast descents. The usual lunatics tearing down the hills, passing on the left and the right, you definitely had to have your wits about you.   Next up was a lap around the Formula One Race Track at Estoril, pretty cool, esp coming down the pit lane.  After that, the rest of route was on exposed main roads all the way to the outskirts of Lisbon and back to Cascais. The wind had picked up by now and the headwind was tough, both out and back.    I arrived back into Cascais after 3hrs 11mins on the bike and then out onto the run.

The Run:

Two laps of a sneakily hilly run with some long drags and a nasty leg breaker of a ramp.  I just settled myself into a nice steady pace, took my gels as planned and stopped at every aid station for water as it was quite warm. Two laps and 21km done in 2hrs 1min, then time to head down the red carpet to the finish line.

I was lucky I had the full run in on the red carpet all to myself and Paul Kaye gave me a memorable welcome to the finish, calling me “Nats” and commenting on my smile.  So glad Alan recorded it and I’ll be listening back to it for awhile yet!

Overall finish time 6hrs 8mins with a bit of “faffing” in T1 and T2. Top 10 finish in my AG (9th out of 31). After a quick change and bite to eat back at the hotel, I spent the rest of the day out supporting those doing the full IM. It was a long day out for them (their swim started after the IM70.3 swim) and most were finishing in the dark and rain (the rain had started again in the late afternoon / evening). They really needed the support.

A much needed lie in on Sun morning, before brekkie and post race catch ups with everyone. Finisher t-shirts and medals the obligatory attire of the day with plenty of coffee and cake meet ups and stories told of race day.

In the end and despite having us all a bit worried, the weather came good and was ok on race day. I really enjoyed the IM70.3 race and the few days spent in Cascais. It’s a really pretty town, located on a very dramatic coastline. It’s easy to get to and there’s plenty of accommodation. Transition / the expo / registration / swim start / finish area are all within walking distance of each other in a relatively compact area. It’s a nice course with something for everyone. It’s one I can definitely recommend & a nice excuse to round off the season in a warm sunny location (hopefully).

Sent from Outlook for Android

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