Ironman World Championships in Nice, 2024
2024 saw the first time the women would take on the Ironman World Championships in Nice, France. And what a spectacularly beautifully tough course it is!
CPC athlete Jacqui Graham qualified for this race at Ironman Western Australia in December 2023 in her first Ironman, started coaching with CPC in February 2024 and we’ve been working towards this since.
Ahead of the race, Jac was spending 5 weeks travelling around Europe with her bike in tow, and runners and swim gear packed. With this, we opted to take the roadie and therefore would race the course on the roadie too. This race was for the challenge, the experience, to race against the best in the world and to challenge herself against a super tough course, and she did all that and more!
Jacqui shared some of her thoughts post race…..
Woweee. That was humbling!
Swim I was stoked with. Was pretty rough out there so I was very happy with how I went especially how much swimming I’d managed in the last two months.
That bike course was something else. It was tough! 2400m of elevation in the first half of the race and a relentless headwind on any flats, but absolutely STUNNING descents! There were so many strong riders. Everyone seemed to be quite conservative descending – probably as they were on TT’s, whereas I found I could handle the descents well on my road bike. So would have been interesting to have my TT but I’m glad I had my roadie for the previous 5 weeks so happy with my decision. Also gave me confidence on the descents – which is where I actually felt I did my best!
The run was tough. A stitch for first few k’s and the stomach wasn’t overally happy, so started conservative but the legs felt good! I was overall happy with the pace given the course. Only overtaken by Lucy Bartholomew and one other person on the run course so that’s a win! (we say a 3:30 mara after a TOUGH bike course is well and truly a win!)
But I know I can do better and my best run is still ahead of me, so that is exciting!
Overall a killer day. The most spectacular days racing, with amazing support on course on a very humbling course. 37th in age group. I don’t think I can complain about that !
The end result? After coming out of the water in 60yh position in her AG, Jacqui rode and ran here way through the field finishing 37th in her Age Group and a super proud Ironman World Championships Finisher!
Swim: 107:58
Bike: 6:29:16
Run: 3:29:24
Overall: 11:18:45, 37th F30-34
Full results HERE
Next up is the mens Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 26, 2024. We can’t wait to watch this one too!
