Race Report:
I'm not sure what made me think that walking down a mountain was good
preparation for a fast, flat duathlon, but I have definitely learned from
my mistake. I managed to fit in two short massages in the days before the
race, to ease the pain in quads and glutes, but still wasn't sure how my
tired legs would respond to race pressure.
The Ottowan authorities had decided that despite having beautiful parks,
rivers and canals and traffic free, rolling roads, they would stage the
duathlon on a flat, straight dual carriageway with 'technical' sections
consisting of riding round an industrial estate and running round a car
park. It did mean that the course was going to be quick, but not
interesting and very exposed to the sun and the prevailing winds.
The Canadians seemed very laid back about most rules, so there was no ID
check at registration, no kit check at racking and no number check when we
took the bikes out of transition, somewhat worryingly. However, it made
for a fairly stress free race atmosphere and as we lined up for the mass
start of all 171 age-group ladies at 7.25am the most worry was caused by
the wind, which was very blustery and gusting strongly at times.
The first 10k run was taken out by the Canadians, with one staying about
5m in front of a chase group of about 6 of us, including 3 or 4 Brits, who
were running strongly. At transition, two Canadian girls ran into
transition in front of me, with the chase pack close behind. I wasn't too
worried about the ladies in front of me as I knew they weren't in my age
group, it was the stronger bikers behind me causing more concern.
On the bikes the so-called technical section came early on, with a loop
round some small roads and tightish turns. To my surprise I caught and
passed both Canadians in this section and never saw them again. The wind
was mainly a cross-wind from the front, tiring to push into and never
really seemed to be behind us. The gusts meant holding larger rims on the
road quite strongly at times. The older age group men had set off in a
wave before us ladies, so we had plenty of rabbits to chase down, even if
some of them did tend to wander all over the course at times. At the
turnaround I could see some ladies gaining on me, and was pleased to see
it was mainly Brits, but still meant I couldn't let up on the effort at
all.
Coming into T2 the marshalls wanted me to do another bike lap, presumably
because I wasn't Candian, but I managed to ignore them and relieved to be
there, entered T2 still in the lead. The final 5k run always feels
excrutiatingly slow and hurts lots, so I was ready for that, but I thought
it was over really quite quickly as I ran towards the finish line. I
couldn't see anyone near me on a quick look round at the last turn, so I
was grateful not to have to sprint. Once again the marshalls tried to
point me round the run course again, instead of into the finish chute, but
I ran past them to the finish anyway. As I ran over the finish line, the
commentator announced that a lady had come home, but that she must have
gone the wrong way, as if she had run off the bike in that time it was
phenomenal and would I like to go out again and finish the course
properly? I was a bit confused and wondered if I had in fact gone wrong,
but as the next ladies began to come in after a couple of minutes the
commentator realised his mistake and admitted that I must actually have
won. I was obviously not sufficiently Canadian for him is all I can
assume.
In these championship races, prizes are only awarded for the age group you
are racing in, so there is no recognition for placing overall, but it was
a great feeling to stand on the podium with a fellow Brit, local and
friend Steve McKeown, who had won the men's race in the same age group.
Gill
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