Here is a quick roundup of what happened over the weekend…

My sister Rosie finished her education…Congratulations!!

Clare got a part-time job at Cooking Made Simple (my favourite take away in Loughborough:))!

I got a parking ticket on my Vespa (again).

Dan Hugo won his first international XTERRA.

Mikko Finished his first ever Triathlon and got 3rd in his age group! Good lad.

Stu Hayes won Blenheim, Johnny Brownlee was 2nd and Aaron Harris was 3rd and GAVIN NOBLE was 5th.

Fraser ‘Nessie’ Cartmell Won the Stirling Triathlon and Aleksandar was 23rd in Suisse 70.3.

I did a catch up day of V02 max swim, 1.5hr Turbo and 2hr run…ouch!

Will get some photos up soon…

Last time I was here it was very nervous times with the Olympic Qualification and all that! Well guess what…it’s still nervous times for me! Its my first World Cup of the year. I am in good shape judging from the last two races and all I want to do is see it work out for my first ITU World Championships series!

My prep for the race went well I think, I came round nicely from the French Grand Prix. I am buzzing after hearing that my 5k in the race actually was 5210m long so I actually ran more like a 14:57 with wind and lots of turns so that confirmed my form is good and I am in a much better position then last year:)

I’m having a good time here so far, It’s HOT! Yesterday Stu and I trained together with a swim in the lake, small ride and a short run around the park. We had a team meal last night as well in Pizza Express with the worst waitress ever who dropped a bottle of balsamic Vinegar, smashed the bottle and it leaked all over Tim Don! She waked off without ever saying sorry!

Head down now…Please check back for a race full race report, hopefully a happy one!

I grabbed my 2nd win of the season on Sunday in Dunkerque for the 2nd French Grand Prix. Its a great weekend and as it was so close to England and my parent and future in-laws are able to come cheer me on. The amount of kit we were given from Lagardere Paris Racing team is phenomenal, it’s like a 2nd Christmas and it’s so good to catch up with the boys for some banter.

The boys...

I actually crossed the line 1st with my team mate Laurent Vidal. I don’t normally bother to out sprint my team mates in the French Grand Prix because there are so many other opportunities where we are rivals, on Sunday we were a team with the same goal!

The swim went really badly actually, I came out the water in 45th which is less then ideal but I was still on the front group though so was safe. There is a new kid on the block – word is he is an ex Beijing Olympic 1500m Swimmer and he has been mixing up the swims a lot recently! To be honest, this is less than ideal for me!!

I felt really strong on the bike, the pace was seriously ON! The field was strung out the whole way through the city like a snake and was extremely hard to get to the front after the swim!

Fortunately I hit T2 almost at the front and I got onto the run feeling really great so could soon catch the front and take the lead with Alistair Brownlee where we pushed it on together for the first 3.5k. Alistair unfortunately got stopped by a marshall briefly under the tunnel for a time penalty giving me a chance to get a gap on him with Laurent Vidal.  We held this to the finish and took the tape.  

I love weekends like this, it was great seeing the boys (Stuart Hayes, Laurent, David Hauss, Mehdi and David Coach) again.  As well as the other guys from the other teams.  It was fast and furious racing and made it a very entertaining weekend for everyone involved! Its a dangerous race Dunkerque due to city centre course and cobbles but fortunately the rain held off and everyone got round safely. 

Next up for me is Madrid World Championship Series. I keep saying this but this is a real test… The best guys in the world, hard course and full distance.  I hope it goes as well as the others so far. If not, long season ahead  I’m heading to the pool so I can give myself a chance of swimming with Javier Gomez this weekend. 

Cheers for checking out my first post and well done Lagardere Paris Racing team!