|
Ladies were all in the first wave and everyone went off at a very
conservative pace, which I stayed with for the first few km, but then
pushed on, wanting to try to get a good lead on the ladies who were
stronger on the bike. I ran into transition first and despite my bike
being tangled with its neighbour, having been blown around in the wind, I
set off with no-one to chase. Unsurprisingly about half way round the
first bike lap another lady overtook me, so I upped the effort level and
determined not to let her get more than a minute ahead, so that I could
catch her on the run. I had to work really hard to stay with her,
especially in the ferocious wind, and eventually managed to arrive back at
T2 under a minute behind her. I knew I could catch the one lady in front
of me, but I had put so much effort into the bike ride that I wasn't sure
if I could stay ahead of the others who may not have had to work so hard,
so their legs might be fresher for the run. Since I didn't know where any
of the other ladies were at this point, I thought it best to keep pushing
for home. It seems it was as well that I did, as the next two ladies to
finish were under two minutes behind.
Justin Burrell put in a great effort to finish 14th in his very strong age
category, (and posting a faster bike time than me!) Shortly after I had finished, the commentator announced an olympic gold medallist coming into the finish and James Cracknell ran over the line. He stayed around to chat and handed out all of the prizes, apart from his own 3rd in age group placing. It was great to have such an incredible athlete happy to hang around and appreciate everyone's efforts.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
