The sun was high in the sky at 2.30pm as we left our accomodation to cycle up to the relay assembly area. The cool breeze and shade near the finish gave a false sense of security the start line being out in the full glare of the sun as we lined up Le Mans style for the sprint to our bikes. Riding first for Team GB I got a cracking start and stayed in the top 3 for the first couple of controls before the strength and speed of the other athletes told and I was overtaken on the next hill by the pack. I stayed in touch through the next couple but lost them when I fluffed a punch and had to go back for it. I then made one bad error taking the wrong single track forcing a climb back up to the control and putting me well down. A bonkers decent down a rocky single track took us down to the TV cameras and another little mistake before I made another huge route choice error. Pulling myself together I started to reel back in the teams in front, passing the Japanese just after the spectator and a small pack in an intricate path network. I gave it all ip the last hill and handed over to Andy Conn. Andy had a solid ride which brought us up a few places. Brian Singleton on anchor was going well before a huge crash saw him lose a few places, so a disappointing result for the mens team.
After the prize giving at the assembly area the mens team however won the race for dinner beating all the other teams back to the event centre. Maybe this could be a new dicipline next year
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