IM Bolton report from Roz Goatly.

 
Sun, 7th Aug 2011 - 12:00 a.m.

IM UK is certainly a tough race! Bike course makes Nice look like a walk in the park! Having said that I did actually quite enjoy it-some nice scenary & good support on the route & at 6am for the race start as well. Although last 10miles dragged a bit. New run course is not as enjoyable-flat run out to the new loop where you run up & down a 3mile hill 3 times; got some nasty steep climbs as well & the downhill hits your legs as well as the uphills. Unfortunately after about 12 miles into the run & couldn't take anything on apart from water so it was a quite unpleasant walk/run for the 2nd half of the run. Otherwise prob would've been on for about 4hrs for the marathon. Great support in the middle of town & was massively relieved to survive & finish-at 1 stage didnt think I would. A lot of 1st timers doing this course. Actually would not discount doing this one again-prob to see if I could improve on the time & also because the UK ones seem to keep moving their dates for next year. Challenge Henley & Outlaw look a lot more pleasant in terms of courses! Legs stil sore, feet a bit wrecked to say the least but looking forward to a week doing nothing in Greece then coming back for the relays & then some sprints to finish off the season.. Thought coming back to IM would satisfy me for a few more years but have got the bug again!! Decent race, splt transition a bit of a pain but Bolton are well behind it & if you want a challenge, as you know, it certainly is that!