London, ENG - Olympics - Final Day

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It was our final day in London today. The three weeks has flown by incredibly fast. In one sense it feels like we’ve only been gone for days, on the other hand, we keep forgetting, when we discuss our top 5 or 10 favourite things, about entire countries we visited! It has been a whirlwind for sure.

This morning we were up at the crack of dawn to finalize packing and get our luggage back to the car prior to the start of the Men’s Triathlon. Once all of that was sorted, we headed back to Hyde Park to stake out a prime position to watch the race. We had three Canadians racing – Simon Whitfield, Kyle Jones and Brent McMahon. Each of these awesome guys have spent a bunch of time with Will; as an example, Will organized a triathlon camp years ago and it was Kyle first-ever camp going into his first ever Kids of Steel Provincial Championship. Now we were set to watch him and the others race in at the Olympic Games.

Sadly, as with the Women’s race a few days ago, luck was not on our side. We were so nervous during the swim that each of us bit off all of our finger nails and we were pumped to see Simon leave the water in the main pack and solidly in 15^th position. He is one of the best runners in the World for triathlon and if he is with the race leaders on the bike, he is a major threat for a medal. The excitement didn’t last long – within meters it seemed of the transition area Simon hit a speed bump (the only one of the course) awkwardly, throwing him off his bike and into a metal barricade. He suffered some bumps and bruises with no breaks but had a major gash on his foot, requiring stiches and preventing him from continuing. Minutes into the bike, we were down to only 2 athletes.

Both Kyle and Brent put in solid efforts and were part of the second chase group on the bike. The essentially raced together from start to finish and would have been in a great position to potentially thwart attacked from their group on the leaders which would have included Simon. At the end of the race, Kyle ended his first Olympic Games in 25^th and Brent respectively in 27^th. Needless to say, going into these Games and being able to watch the race first-hand, we, along with most Canadians had higher hopes for our Triathlon results. But, it is all about luck on the day. These athletes (both guys and girls) are each so good at that level, really any one could win on any given day or course. Sometimes it’s a flat tire, sometimes a crash; a wetsuit that won’t come off…or even for Jonathan Brownlee and early bike mount that can alter those fortunes of athletes in this sport. Having said all of that, watching the event with 250,000 of our closest friends in the iconic Hyde Park was an experience in itself not to be forgotten.

Following the conclusion of the triathlon, we made our way back to the car and began our long journey back to Canada. First leg of the trip was from London to catch the ferry in Dover, ENG en route to Calais, FRA. We arrived on time, had a great dinner aboard and within 90 minutes we were back on the main land. The second leg of the trip was a very long 8 ½ hour drive to Munich, Germany and our hotel for the night. We started this at 7:00pm (due to a time change) and arrived at 3:30am for a quick 5 hour nap. Too bad too, because this was the nicest hotel room either of us have ever seen. The drive was pretty decent using the Autobahn network and because of the time of day there were no delays throughout their plethora of construction zones.

At the hotel and time to lay our heads down on the pillow for a bit before we return the rental car (with 6,000 plus new kilometers on it) and check in for our flight back to Canada. We have a stopover in Toronto where we are excited to have dinner with some of the family.

Bye for now,

Kristy & Will

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Comments

[Aunt Kim]

Thank you
Kristy and Will: What a journey! I will miss reading about your adventures. Thanks for taking the time and effort it took to post the pictures and travel information. Travel safe and welcome back:) xoxo