In no particular
order, things I learnt during the World Triathlon Championships.
1) You cannot ride a Boris bike between
midnight and 6am. Health and safety must have recognised drunks + bikes= not
good combo!
2) If said Boris Bike is unavailable and you
were relying on it to get to a race, at a very early time of day, transport
options are limited! Jumping on the back of another bike can be a stellar
answer, not so stellar for the riders legs!
3) Aero helmets are not standard cycle wear,
especially cycling down Oxford street.
4) Oxford Street is not ideal for cycling.
5) Oxford Street is not ideal for anything,
unless you like queues and traffic jams!
6) You can get around extortionate London
Hotel prices by staying in University accommodation, a breakfast fit for a king
and a ping pong table, basically an all inclusive resort!
7) 1000s of supporters in Hyde park create an
incredible about of noise and support- especially if you are wearing a GB tri
suit and have your name plastered across your bum.
8) If you decided to run Park Run the day
before an event as a warm up , you should probably tell the organisers that you plan to stop after 4km, potential to
mess up the result of every runner behind you is very high!
9) The best deli near Hyde Park can be found
in Mayfair, next to the furry Ferrari! Seriously people in Mayfair have furry
cars!
10) Only when your bike shoe falls off as your
attempting to jump on your bike in T1 you realise you should have done a bit
more transition practice! But, you do help add amusement to “carnage corner” as
the mount/dismount area became known!
16th/
77 in 25-29 age group at World Triathlon Championships. Hoping for a top 10 but
on reflection the standard this year was considerably higher than previous
years, so places maybe don’t give a true reflection of performance. This is how the break down looks and a
comparison to the winners time.
|
|
My time
|
Winners time
|
difference between winner
time and my time
|
|
Swim (shortened to 750m due
to water temperature)
|
12.00
|
11.20
|
40seconds
|
|
Bike 40km
|
1.08
|
1.05
|
3mins
|
|
Run 10km
|
39.51
|
35.54
|
4mins
|
|
Total
|
2.06.27
|
1.58.27
|
8mins
|
I
gave it everything in the race, the athletes that beat me, were better than me
on that day, fair enough. The fields were full of classy athletes, incredible
to see so many age group athletes recording faster bike and run splits than
those in the elite race!
Nice to be able to travel to a championship, on the train with your bike and backpack
Lifts were a little tricky to negotiate, especially when your room was on the 8th floor!
A
huge thanks to everyone who came to support, I heard your voices loud and clear
and when the legs started to tire in the last few kilometres your yells of
encouragement helped me keep pushing onwards. Tanner, Drew, Team DB Sam a big
thank you and great to catch up post race, Bex and Herne Hill massif, You truly
have fog horn voices! loud and clear I heard
you on the bridge! Alison thanks for the yell and Seonaid your shout of “This
is what you train for” on the last lap of the run really did help, cheers guys.
Bike Transition in the early hours, synonymous with race day, happy to not be doing this for a while
As
they say, that’s a wrap, the 2013 season is all over. Time to rest my weary
body and mind and think about the 2014 season.
Good luck to anyone still racing and for everyone who has finished their season have a well deserved break.
