Major League Tri Vail Race Report
Photo by: Major League Triathlon
Event - Major League Tri Vail Round 2
4.08.18
4.30pm start Elite Teams
Gold Coast Tritons Team
Super Sprint Relay
My first race at altitude 2500m. A spectacular venue, 300m lake swim, 4 lap 6km technical ride & 3 lap 1.6km park run.
Weather-
Very testing conditions at altitude. Warm & sunny!
Result-
3rd for the Team!! An awesome battle in the altitude!
What a venue for the second round of Major League Triathlon (MLT) 2018 Series, of with Australia has its Gold Coast Tritons Team, up at 2500m in the Colorado Rockies in Vail!
MLT runs as a super sprint team relay format, so a 300m swim, 6km ride & 1.6km mile run, in teams of 4 with 2 men & women each doing their super sprint leg & tagging off to the next. At this event Men will actually be off 1st & 3rd leg & the women will play the 2nd & 4th "anchor" leg. In Vail i was the finsih athlete, bringing the team home with whatever oxygen i had left, and WOW it Stung!!
My team mates got us off to a terrific flying start, in Brandon Copeland off first, having another all round strong swim, bike & run to tag Jaz Hedgeland off second for our next leg. Jaz put in a strong effort to keep us in the game, tagging Ryan Fisher into 3rd. Fish swam just like his name to catch the leading duo & put in an impressive bike/run combo to pull away along with the 'Carolina gliders' team 3rd male for the last tag!
I got off to start the anchor leg running side by side with Chelsea Burns, diving into the lake for a 300m swim, hitting a lactic wall on the final stretch to the swim exit, as the effects of racing at 2500m altitude hit quick & Taylor Spivey, who had an impressive day of racing for the San Diego Stingrays, caught us heading to transition onto the bike.
Getting on the bike with the 3 of us the pace was on as we pushed each other hard over the 4 lap course with many technical dead turns each lap, adding to the sting of the legs & lactic burn up in the clouds! Getting off the bike running shoulder to shoulder into the transition onto the run. WIth the quickest transition out onto the run, it was unfortunately the last time i had our team ahead, as i hit a steep wall on that run & my chance at anchoring our strong team to a win was quickly sinking...
That run hurt, with my chest tight & legs heavy as i tried my best but couldn't produce the pace to keep up with the impressive Taylor Spivey & Chelsea Burns up ahead who were very impressive on the run in those challenging altitude conditions.
To cut myself a break i was at day 6 of altitude, ever... and everyone says the first week you feel crap at altitude before starting to adjust and come around to the conditions, where other athletes have spent the last month up in different altitude training camps across the globe so were therefore much more accustomed to the conditions than our team.
Finishing in 3rd on the podium thanks to the efforts all round from our Gold Coast Tritons Team!! Another strong performance up front of the race & a well earnt champagne shower celebration on the podium!
After 8 weekends straight of racing & 11 races, it was great to be able to stop & appreciate this block & then unwind & relax over dinner & some drinks thanks to Major League Tri! Another terrific event in such a spectacular location, I count myself lucky to have been able to travel to up into the Colorado Rockies & witness this literal breath taking race location!