32
ILOOKED over my shoulder. The clock above the finishing line said, ‘John McAvoy, UK, 9:10:17’.
Instinctively the words ‘oh shit’ escaped from my mouth.
It was a very good time, in a highly prestigious race, but wasn’t quite what I hoped. Instantly I thought of the issue on the bike and the time wasted going to the toilet twice. That was all that had prevented me from joining the sub-nine hours club, a truly select group. That particular target would have to remain one for the future.
Then another thought flashed through my mind. Nine hours ten minutes? My age group winner the previous year had only been 30 seconds quicker.
‘Do you know where I finished?’ I asked the pretty official.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t, but nine hours ten is really quick.’
I went from person to person, asking friends in the crowd, other officials, with a curious mix of anticipation and excitement in my guts. At last I saw Darren.
‘Where did I come, mate?’ I pleaded.
He had the official results on his phone.
‘Fourteenth,’ he replied. ‘It was a freak year.’
My instant reaction was one of slight deflation but that was soon assuaged by the friends who had come out to support me. As well as Darren, Keith and Bruno, Seb, Ben and Jack from the rowing club made the journey, along with Neil, my old mate from Sudbury. A number of personal training clients of mine came out too – Georgia, Lucy, Lisa, Carrie and Sophie. I greeted all of them as I passed through into the athletes’ changing area. Their joy and pride rekindled my positive mood.
Afterwards, as I reflected, it dawned what an enormous triumph Frankfurt had been. As an athlete it represented such a massive step forward. I executed the race professionally, using intelligence and common sense to deal with problems as they came up. Despite any disappointment over the position, I had to be pleased with that.
The fact was that on the day, Germans smashed records all over the place. People had never seen anything like it before. The standout statistic was that I had been the top British finisher in my age group and the third overall, only behind two professionals (one of whom was Hywel who finished just five minutes ahead of me, while the other was Will Clarke who broke the marathon course record in a staggering two hours 42).
In finishing in nine hours ten I had beaten large numbers of professional Ironmen from all over the world, recorded best times in all three events and really placed myself at the top end of the sport. People now knew my name.
My last three events had all been successful, while the results of my two races of 2016 gave me 4,682 world ranking points, placing me third in the UK in the male 30–34 age group, in mid-summer.
And the best part is that I know there is much more to come.
A month later I discussed the future with Keith. He was bowled over by my achievements in such a short space of time.
‘You’ve achieved in three and a half years what I managed in 12,’ he said. ‘Your rate of progress is staggering.’
We agreed to up my training levels to pro volume for the 2017 season, meaning 30-hour weeks for 12 months. Keith believed the time was right to push things on. I was there.
We would spend the winter focusing on swimming improvement. One hour three minutes in Frankfurt was a good performance, but with dedicated coaching Keith believed six or seven minutes quicker would be possible. My cycling would continue its upward trajectory while my running was more or less there. I could really see it all coming together.
By January 2018, I would be turning professional.