The Campbell Academy Blog (73)

Nice (with a capital)

I felt at the start of the week when I blogged early on that I would tell you the story of what happened in Nice, and I haven't got to that yet, so let me get to it now.

I want anyone who wants to read this to go back to my blog about Tim from 2016 and my blog about Louis and what came after Tim.

Last Sunday was Louis's turn.

Louis attempted to try and emulate his Dad and complete Nice Ironman on his way to becoming a professional triathlete.

The stage was set for an extraordinary day, and I got there late on Friday night due to work commitments so that I could spend the Saturday with Louis helping him prepare, cooking his tea and making sure that all his equipment was right.

We headed down to the Promenade at the front of Nice at about 5 a.m. on Sunday morning with 4000 other athletes and everyone that came with them.

I've written much about Louis here and his journey towards professional triathlon and his motivations for that, both for himself and for his Dad, Tim.

And so, Louis, who has worked all year to try and be a swimmer fit for the professional pack in triathlon, exited the age group field out of 4000 athletes in third place.

That was probably the best swim that Louis had ever done in a triathlon, and he headed out on the hellish bike in already about 28-degree heat at 8.30 in the morning.

I rode my bike towards Monaco in the time that would be on his and came back to shout him on in the run, but it wasn't to be Louis's day this day.

He had struggled and suffered on the bike.

His black triathlon suit turned white with the salt he was excreting (that needs some investigation).

It's four laps of the front of Nice at over 10k each for the marathon in Ironman, France and at the end of the first lap of 10k, Louis wanted to speak to me, so I walked slowly beside him as he told me that his body was shutting down and he couldn't take anything on.

He felt like he was freezing.

What happened next was one of the bravest things I've ever seen, as Louis managed about another 7k.
I never saw it all because I went to get my bike so I could cycle beside him.

But in the end, he collapsed at the side of the road for about 30 minutes before we could properly get him back on his feet.

It's hard to talk to someone whose dreams have been shattered on a day when they were trying to do something for someone else who's not there anymore.

The only words I had for Louis were to say that it was one of the bravest things I had ever seen and how it's always easy to celebrate when you're winning but much harder to see how brilliant things are when you don't get what you want.

Watch this space as the aftermath of Ironman France will bring an extraordinary number of positives to an extraordinary amount of people, and I'll tell you in future blogs how and why that will happen.

For now, if you'd like to help Louis (he needs your money and financial support to become a professional triathlete), email me here, and I'll tell you how you can get in touch.

Chapeau Louis!

Honestly, one of the bravest things.