European Cup Race Walking, 2015 - Murcia.

I'm writing the first half of this blog the day before the race, the other half will be finished off once I have recovered!

I've spent the last two weeks back in Torrevieja training in the same place as my winter camp from earlier this year. It was quite a bit warmer over these last two weeks than it was back in February, it got up to 38C towards the end of the camp.
I was joined by an Australian walker Rhydian Cowley, who is over in Europe preparing to race searching for the World Championships Qualifying time. He was the perfect training partner, similar training patterns and he didn't have a race to focus on immediately.
We trained early, then recovered in the swimming pool - tough life!

After two weeks in Torrevieja we headed back to Alicante airport to meet up with the rest of the British team when they arrived in Spain then headed to Murcia with them. This will be my 4th European Cup for Great Britain, it's special to me as this was the competition I debuted at in 2009 as a Junior athlete, over 10k. My self and Jo Atkinson (Women's 20k) are the only athletes left from my original team.
The GB Team for the Cup looks like this:

Jo Atkinson (20k), Emma Achurch (10k), Me!, Callum Wilkinson (10k), Guy Thomas (10k), Cameron Corbishley (10k)

This time around I go into the European Cup with almost perfect preparation, the fittest I've ever been. The main aim this time is to back up last season's 12th place finish at the European Championships, in Zurich. I hope to once again be up the front of the race, being competitive as I was in Lugano back in March. The heat is going to play a major part, but having visited the course with the team I feel confident that the heat actually won't be too much of a problem as there is plenty of shade on the course, with very little of it in direct sunlight come 5pm Sunday. Keeping my self busy on Sunday will be key, I hate just sitting round over thinking everything.

My target the 20k race is to bag another 1:24:00 qualifying time for both Beijing, World championships this summer and the all important Olympic Games next summer in Rio, as well as placing as close to the top 10 as possible. So from here I leave you and will complete this once I've walked my self 20k. Here's to a top result, I can feel it in my legs!!

Ok so that hurt!

Finishing off just under the World and Olympic qualifying time of 1:24:00 in 16th place.

After what felt like a sluggish start my first 5k split was ok at 20:54. My plan was to start steady and up the pace. So I decided to do as planned, hitting 10k in around 41:30, the next 5k though I struggled with my legs hurting and my body aching I had stopped closing on the group ahead. At this point I was in 27th, but was struggling. Feeling very flat at the start of the race is possibly going two months since racing properly, which usually I do not do at this point in the season. I had done a lot of training over the last two months, so perhaps that sharpness I usually have wasn't there, however, in the long run it will put me in great shape for Beijing World Championships in August.

By 15k I was in 22nd place, slowly taking a few places. Then at 16.5k the leader, European Champion from Zurich last year, Lopez, caught me over the 1k lap and went to lap me. I decided why not to try and stick with him and see if he can drag me along. Not only did I stick by him, I actually unlapped myself which then moved me on through the pack. I ended up pushing away from Lopez. This gave me great confidence to be able to out walk the leader in the last few kilometres. That missing sharpness turned up just in time! I know for the World Championships I will be more competitive. 

Lopez and my self walking together in the last few k's.

That final 5k was approximately 20:40, my second fastest 5k split of the entire race. By hitching a lift with Lopez he pulled me along to 16th place, taking 6 more places and finishing in a much more respectable position! I ticked the boxes of my 2nd Rio Olympics time, and my 5th World Champs time! So I can't complain, especially when I couldn't execute the perfect race strategy with the pace I hoped.

After the team were able to celebrate some great performances and even the athletes who were disappointed by their own performances still cheered on and supported those who's races went to plan. Which made this GB team a great team to be part of. Standout junior Callum Wilkinson in the 10k walked European Junior qualifying time (43:00) with eleven seconds to spare with a new PB of 42:49 for 12th place. He was followed home in 17th by second British junior male and my Tonbridge AC teammate Guy Thomas also in a massive PB of 43:44. Meaning the British Junior Boys team finished in a record high of 6th place! Amazing work from those guys, with Cameron Corbishley in the mix, all year the three of those boys have bettered each other, moving them all on to great levels of performance! Well done lads! With my Olympic and World Champs qualifying times and Callum's European U20 time, 2 PB's it made for a great weekend. And even though Jo Atkinson in the 20k and Emma Achurch in the 10k (Emma all ready had the European U20 time) struggled in the race they both finished and refused to let the race get the better of them which a lot of other athletes would do. We proved to be a resilient team!
Thanks also to team staff, Andi Drake, Verity Snook and Alex O'Gorman for their support. We can't get the best from our own races without a strong support team behind us!

Verity Snook, Emma Achurch, Jo Atkinson, Me, Callum Wilkinson, Guy Thomas, Cam Corbishley, Alex O'Gorman, Andi Drake.

What a great trip! Time now for some relaxing at home, drinking coffee and playing Fifa! Then next week it's back on it, as we build up to the World Champs 20k Trial in June, hopefully confirming my place in the team for the Worlds in August.

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Thats it for now, till my next adventure, be your self, or even why not try to better your self. And remember enjoy your self because before Part B there is always a Part-AYYYY!!!

#TomWalksFast