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. The first start was at 11.00 at which point I zipped up Graham's wetsuit and wished him luck. There is no point watching the swim as a hundred old boys in wetsuits and green swim hats look all the same. I went to watch where they emerge from the water and into transition. All went well through transition and on to the bike. I watched the bike riders return and knew Graham had a lot to do on the run but with good running conditions he managed to overtake loads of of his age group competitors on the run and be 4th GB and 11th overall. He was fastest GB in his age on the run and 2nd overall on the run, so he was quite chuffed with that. A very god result as he is now the last year of his age group.
We returned to the apartment for showers and lunch and some chill time before going to watch the Paralympics selection race. The athletes with all sorts of disabilities were inspirational to watch. We watched near the transition area and watching a one legged person hop round transition and throw themselves onto a bike and cycle with one leg and then put on a prosthetic limb to run 5km was quite amazing.
We planned to go to watch the presentation ceremonies as there were a lot of GB age groupers winning medals. The race finished in the large arena and this was where the presentations were being held. However all the Paralympic presentations were going to take place first, each different category with the National anthems and medal and flower presentation. After watching the first one which was the ladies sight impaired we realised the whole ceremony was going to go on for hours and some celebratory drinks were calling, so we departed to the "Irish Bar" .
A couple of other of Graham's age groupers were there and we finished the evening at an excellent fish restaurant.