The 2017 edition of Challenge Herning was to be the ETU Middle Distance Championships, and from the wide variety of posts on social media in the build up, plus the big name sponsors that they managed to secure (Garmin, Red Bull, Tyr, 3M to name a few) I was sure they were going to put on a spectacular event.

I arrived on the Thursday (with the race being on Saturday), and was surprised at how little sign there was of any race going on. There was a big banner in the main square, but walking around the town centre, it didn't have the same buzz as other events I've been to, which I found especially odd, given that it's a championship event, with close to 2,000 competitors descending on a place with a population of about 50k...

On the Thursday afternoon I popped out to recce a bit of the bike course, and there was nothing to indicate that there would be a race in 2 days time. None of the usual signs up warning traffic, or spray painted directional signs on the road, though I did see T1 being set up (it was a split transition race). As I made my way back in to town, to where T2 was to be, I couldn't actually work out where it would be at all - again, no sign of anything.

Friday morning saw me head out to recce the run course. Again, no real sign of anything, despite there having been a 5k fun run the previous evening, following the same course. I couldn't work out the final part of the run loop from the map, but I knew it went through the centre of the library (yes, through the library) and figured it would be alright on the day.

The swim recce went much better, with it being one simple loop around the perimeter of lake Fuglsang, with plenty of orange (albeit small) buoys marking the course - four larger buoys were put out for the race itself.

The briefing was a bit haphazard, with rules being changed from what had previously been advised (including a 20m draft zone on the bike, and that it wasn't going to be a closed road race), and a general lack of clarity about what was required. They did take questions from people, but despite being asked several times, didn't repeat the questions when providing answers, so unless you were within earshot of the person who had asked the question, it was pretty difficult to know what was going on.

Registration was a bit of a faff. They didn't have all of the bits (streetwear bag or number tattoos) until the Friday afternoon, so couldn't give everything out, and it was held in a pretty small room upstairs in the main event hotel, so got over-crowded incredibly easily.

For some reason, the organisers decided it would be a great idea to give the number tattoos out at bike check-in, which would have been fine in theory...but it was chucking it down, so I know lots of people whose numbers were completely spoiled as they got so wet. Thankfully I managed to get mine in a waterproof bag sharpish, so didn't have any issues myself.

In terms of T2, we had to have everything in our bag that we needed on the Friday evening, as there wouldn't be any access to this on race morning. I encountered loads of people who were really struggling to fid where T2 was - it wasn't very well marked on the map or signposted at all. When I found it, I was surprised, and somewhat worried, to find that there was next to no security. Anyone could get to the bag racks (my other half just wandered in with me, and there weren't any fences up at all)

On race morning itself was the first time that I felt any real atmosphere - probably helped by the fact that it was the first time the sun had come out. There was a real buzz around the swim start, with a stage with live band playing. The start process was really smooth - the male pros went off at 10am on the dot, and every wave followed from there. They managed the entry to the water process very well, but didn't communicate that the warm up area was only open up until 5 mins or so before the first wave went off (which seems silly, considering some waves weren't going off until close to an hour after that!)

Once in the water, it was great - a clear, flat lake, with plenty of buoys to follow, and plenty of marshalls to ensure safety. Swim exit and T1 were great too, with carpet laid down over the whole of the transition area. The bike mount line was really clear too, with a giant inflatable gantry marking the point.

The bike was the part of the day that I was worried about the most, thinking that a 20m draft zone and no closed roads was going to make it impossible. I was comletely wrong, however. The bike was probably the best part of the day. The course is beautiful, though the fact that it is pretty flat (gently rolling at worst) makes it windy at times. The roads that the course followed were very quiet, so we didn't encounter much traffic, and at every junction, there were marshalls controlling the traffic, so that we never had to worry about stopping, or even slowing down really.

The aid stations (one at 30km and one at 60km) were great, with plenty of stock and the volunteers were fantastic. They had water, isotonic, and energy gels.

The only criticism I would have of the bike was that there weren't enough draft busters. I'm not sure if because I'd started so close to the pros, they were focussing their efforts there, but I only was 1 bike, and only saw that bike 3 time. It didn't seem to do much either, as there was some definite drafting going on!

In to T2, and it was a case of hand your bike over to volunteers, rather than having to rack it yourself, which was great. 

Then out on to the run, which was a 4 lap course, with 3 aid stations per lap. The run is deceptively tough - you have to go over a spiral bridge, which is a killer on your quads and joints in both directions, followed by a long, straight out and back, and a technical final section with a few short but stepish ramps, including the section through the library.

At the end of each lap you were meant to be given a band to signal hw many laps you'd completed. The marshalls manning this were absolutely useless. Other events I've done that have this setup have different funnels for you to run down on the different laps, but here, they had a few marshalls who were giving out all of the bands. I tried, from a long way back, holding fingers up and shouting to indicate which lap I was on, but it was always a last minute scramble to get it sorted. I missed one as a result, but thankfully it didn't cause any issues when I got to the finish.

Most of the aid stations were great, but when I got to one of them on my second lap there were no volunteers there. Literally none. This was the first station out of T2 as well, so I saw a number of people coming out on to the run who weren't able to get any water etc for that first stint.

The atmosphere at the finish line was brilliant, with crowds 3 deep. This was perhaps because the run course took up so much of the main walkway that spectators were forced in to being so tightly packed!

It was in the post-race organisation that this event was really let down. it was reminiscent of what I'd heard about the 2016 WTS Leeds. I thought I'd pick up my bags and bike straight away after finishing, seeing as not many had crossed the line by that point. They were operating a system (to start with) where they had a table set up, you queued, gave your number, and they sent a runner in to the underground car park where the bikes and bags were being stored to retrive your items. Haing gone through that process, I was told that my bags from T1 hadn't arrived yet, the runner came back with my bike to run bag only (I'd said that I didn't want my bike at that point).

Fair enough - I went to find my family, which was easier said than done. Navigating around the town centre was chaos. They had one temporary bridge over the run course, but it could only accept traffic going one way at any one time, which caused absolute carnage. about 15 minutes after having set off, I finally made it the 200m or so I needed to travel...

A couple of hours after finishing, I went back to get the rest of my stuff - managing to find a route avoiding the carnage (which did involve having to squeeze through a part of the fence that I shouldn't have!). By this point, they had given up on sending runners for people's stuff, and it was a free for all. Anyone could head down to the car park to pick up their stuff, and then queue to sign it out afterwards. So, down I went to get my bits. Still no sign of my bags. I asked a marshall if there were any more deliveries to come, to which I was told "probably". Probably? Not 'yes'?? Thankfully there was another delivery, but by now they were just dumping the bags in any order, rather than sorting them numerically. Eventually I managed to get all of my stuff, and make it away.

The post-race festivities were also great, with a number of bars in the town centre, plus they also put on an official after party, with an outdoor stage/DJ/bars, and a real party atmosphere in the town.

Overall a good, enjoyable event. Will I be back next year? Probably not, but it's an event that is worth doing, if they can fix the simple issues (I also wouldn't travel for more than Friday-Sunday)