Photo by: Ivano Fossi
Event
14/7/18
6.40 pm start Elite Women
Start number
34
Sprint distance
1 lap 750m harbour freshwater swim, 6 x lap, technical 21km ride with a 2x 2.5km lap run- FAST & flat.
Weather
Ocercast Evening, low winds, non wetsuit mild racing conditions!
Result
16th with a solid hit out 😊
Splits
59:37- 9:58, 0:31, 31:26, 0:23, 17:22
Hamburg World Triathlon Series is always a favourite for the athletes & one of the toughest on the circuit too! Fast & Furious racing over the sprint distance. Hamburg provides some of the best crowds we see in Triathlon, some 4 deep lining the whole course & yelling + cheering, its such an epic feeling flying through that atmosphere!
I was pumped to return, my first time returning to a WTS event with some experience on the course from the year prior, although still relatively "new" to the World Triathlon Series racing I felt confident & certainly had the "race fitness" from plenty of recent racing.
Starting at 6.40pm was a new experience for me, dinner time.. lucky for Netflix & Sudoku to kill some time during the day along with a light run & swim to wake up the body before heading down to race site!
A non wetsuit swim this year, I started right in the middle of the pontoon at position number 36. Getting off to a good clean start, away fast heading for the first buoy at 260m, Hamburg is famous for its swim as its critical to get to the first buoy near the front or else you find yourself getting tackled around the buoys along with the 50m stretch of dark tunnel we swim through on route to the swim exit!
I got myself to the first buoy in a great position but just didnt get around the early turns clear enough to push forward getting stuck & held up in the mass ocngestiona round the buoys & finding myself not moving anywhere to fast, with people pulling from behind i made a move to get out of the middle of the chaos and go wide, swimming on the outside for the remainder of the swim.
A smooth efficient Transition onto the bike saw me into the chase pack, hunting down the likes of Flora & Jess Learmont in the lead pack. Working hard up front & holding a good smart wheel on the ride saw me stay out of trouble & have a really great bike leg. Catching the lead pack with about 4km to go on the 21km bike course.
Headed into Transiton 2 as one large pack, it was going to be a run race for the Win today, and that was exactly the case! Heading out onto the run towards the front after a swift transition i got into my groove early. At about 500m, a large pack of women had come up and were pushing the pace up front with young Cassandre Beaugrand striding away. Feeling slightly off the pace today on the run & a little fatigued i was let down a little by my run out there, just off the back of the lead pack of top 10 women!
Fighting to take 16th at the end. A result i am happy with in a World Class stellar field where all the big hitters were present, but still as always, frustrations with many things to continue improving & working hard on!
Congrats to Cassandre for the impressive 15:58 5km run, and her first WTS win, so impressive!
Back to work for me, plenty of positives & consistency!
Photo by: Ivano Fossi