We had a very leisurely start to race day. Graham had to put the last minute things in transition which opened at 8.30 and then a relaxed couple of hours before the start .OK "relaxed" Graham may not have been, but the location of our apartment which overlooked the course certainly has taken the stress out of getting to the start on time. The whole area was awash with union jacks as the British team and their supporters seem to dominate the age group triathlon. T...

The weather forecast was awful for today, thunderstorms were forecast all night and to continue most of the day, so we planned a trip to the Aquarium which is nearby. We woke to a very dull day and there had been some rain but it soon brightened up . We continued with our plan to go to the aquarium watching part of the elite junior men on the way. The aquarium is the second largest in Europe and was quite amazing. The tank were so enormous and so many fish of all...

The day before a big race day is always very busy, a strict timetable has to be kept. The first event was the bike recce. The roads were closed at 10am for all the triathletes to ride the course. It looked like mayhem as they all set off but all went well. I spent the time exploring the park . It's an enormous park with gardens, water features and lots of walkways which are used for recreational use. It always surprises me how many people are walking, runnin...

After breakfast we had to do the usual triathlon rituals, check out the notice board at the team hotel and go and register. Fortunately we are so well located both venues are a few minutes walk away. Registration was not open so we decided to head off to Lisbon city centre and come back in the afternoon for Graham to register. The Metro train is very fast and with only four lines red, yellow, green and blue, it is quite easy to negotiate. We went to the centre of...

We are off to Lisbon for the European Triathlon championships. Having booked a very civilised time to fly , we had a leisurely morning leaving home at 10 am. The worst part of the journey as always is trying to get to the other side of Oxford. I am seriously thinking of relocating to the east of Oxford. Once passed Oxford we reached our "Purple parking" site at Heathrow with ease and was efficiently transferred to the airport without any hassle. BA whisked away t...