With the sun shining and the view of water every direction you turn in Rotterdam you can’t help but to enjoy this relaxed European City.
Relaxing is what half of us is here for! Me-I get the R&R while Scott gets on with chasing his sporting dreams. Travelling with an elite sports team was a slightly different travelling experience than normal. Although with one similarity; everyone’s desire the find the best coffee spots. I’ve had plenty of time for this occupation whilst the athletes swim, ride & run themselves around this gorgeous city.

I had to draw a line in the sand and avoid champagne from the breakfast bar…. Although the thought crossed my mind to hide it in my orange juice!  It was nice to have a breather from the busy life we’d been leading at home with hectic training and working schedule, sick kids and all the rest we hadn’t had much down time. The only hectic thing about getting around Rotterdam is remembering to look the right way on the bike path.  The champagne had to wait until after siesta!

My brain is overflowing with bringing ideas from the Dutch way of life back into our hometown of Adelaide, yes the ideas have something to do with wheels, but no I’m not ready to tell you! You’ll have to wait and see.

There was still opportunity for sight seeing and relaxing before The Race. The course was set to showcase what Rotterdam has to offer, around iconic landmarks through lush green parks and no European race could be complete without bumping along a section of cobblestones!

Cobblestones aside, accessible trams and the abundance of bike paths make it easy to navigate this city in a wheelchair. However accessible bathrooms are not so easy to find, our tip is kindly ask a large hotel chain if you can use theirs. Or take your 50cents and brave a fast food chain store or look to the city train station.

A top highlight in the Rotterdam region is a trip on the water bus out to Kinderdijk, 19 windmills from the 18th century, where we hired a bike and I towed Scott along the canal path (he was resting his arms!). It was a busy attraction and we would have passed over 100 people including local school children swimming in the canals.

Scott’s race was scheduled for 4.15pm start (around midnight Down Under) which made for strange race day preparations, but the sun was shining and spirits were high, final preparations in place, including enquiring after the water taxi’s as this was the recommended transport between the swim and ride legs of the race for spectators. The cycle leg went over the Erasmusburg Bridge. Five Team Crowley members made a strong fan club for Scott and didn’t let up till well after the race. Scott pulled personal bests in each parts of the triathlon and finished 9th in the world!!! With this result the future for Scott’s racing is looking very exciting.

More about Rotterdam

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