Photo by: SuperLeague Triathlon
Event
4/11/18
8am Heat 1 & 1.30 pm start Championship Elite Women
Start number
22
SLT Super Sprint distance-
Triple Mix
2 lap 300m ocean swim with a beach start, no surf. 4 lap Brutal 4km ride, with 1 X 14% and 10% climb every lap!! Ouch. 2 lap 1.6km Run, including the 10% climb.
Weather
Mallorca in November meant a 8am race was very challenging in the cold, as the sun only rose at 7.30am, the day heated up as the sun shone through but still remained cooler temperatures in the low 20’s, and a chilly 18 degree ocean temp.
Result
9th
Overall Result for Mallorca Round 3
9th
Day 2, what a test after the fast, & aggressive racing on such a Brutal course, just ask any of the Superleague athletes who competed in Mallorca and you’ll only need to take a look at their facial expressions to get a feel for just how bloody HARD that course was!! I found comfort and confidence in knowing that at the very end of a long season in November I was strong, with no niggles or issues ready to tackle my last triathlon for the year and have a BLAST! Its more than many can say in the sport as many fall victim to injury or illness which you only need to experience once to make you always appreciate being healthy & able to toe the start line!
I knew I couldn’t be the only one feeling tired from yesterdays racing and the weekend before in Malta. It was an early start for European standards, and as I quickly become accustomed to the sleep-in routine over here, the 5am alarm for an 8am Race start was a rude shock to the system! We all got down to race site & had to laugh as we set up in the dark and cold as I don’t think people had realised the sun only comes up at 7.30am, just about time for us to get in the fresh water to warm up.
Racing the Sprint Enduro event for day 2, where by us athletes are split into 2 heats to race one swim, bike, run rep of the super sprint course in the morning, the top 4 automatically qualify through to the afternoons final, followed by the next 2 fastest times, to create an afternoon top 10 finale Enduro event, swim-bike-run-swim-bike-run!! On this course, we all knew this was going to really push us to the limit and beyond!
Superleague of course couldn’t just allocate random heats, that’s no fun! Instead they got 2 of our fellow athlete commentators to draw a name out of the box 1 by 1 to allocate the heats… After watching the men’s slot heat draw I was very nervous, having seen 9 out of the top 10 men being allocated to heat 2, wow! The women’s draw wasn’t as cruel but we finished with 1 definite stronger heat, being heat 1 of 2, and to my luck I was allocated right into the middle of that! With Kirsten Kasper, Rachel Klamer, Katie Zaferes, Jo Brown, Yuko Takahasi, Dani Defrancesco, Claudia Sebok, Megan Foley & myself in the mix.
Getting under way I chased Dani Defrancesco, former Aus swim team member, out of the swim as we had a good little gap with Kasper and Zaferes over the remaining field. I had a great Transition 1 and got away early, only to be caught later in lap 1 by Kasper and Katie, but dropping Dani. My legs were stinging from the go & reminding myself it was only 1 race this morning to get through, Katie was pushing that pace up front on the bike and I dropped off the 2 leaders and fell back with Rachel Klamer, having Jo Brown chasing hard behind! Battling up Mount Mallorca and Mini Mount Mallorca another 4 times I was sitting happily in 4th, knowing I needed to be in the top 4 to automatically qualify or have a quick time to ensure I was within the next fastest 2.
Getting off the bike onto the run I felt the effects on the legs from day 1 only 18 hours earlier & started to lose some ground to Rachel ahead, meanwhile conscious of Jo who was on a mission to catch me chasing behind. I was running comfortably at effort without having to over extend myself before the final and with Jo passing me on lap 2 I finished close behind in 5th & after Heat 2 ended up with the 7th quickest time overall into the afternoon’s final!
Watching the exciting action of the Men’s racing shortly after, a light jog and massage flush before heading to the race site hotel for a nap and lie down before resetting for the evening race. 1.30pm start again, which we later found out streamed to our highest ratings yet, 850 MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE!! STOKED!
Lining up in the Top 10 Women for my Final race of the year was very satisfying and I was happy to be there! What a way to finish the year! Just with a few more mountain climbs to get up! Getting off to a strong start on Kasper’s feet in the swim, exiting the water with the pace on, I had a great transition 1 which earnt myself Kirsten’s wheel up the first hill climb, with Katie getting on too & the likes of Jodie, Taylor Spivey, and Rachel Klamer close behind!! I was really feeling the last 24 hours of racing and was hurting up that mountain on the later laps with the pace still ON I dropped off the back enough to have myself chasing the main bunch!
Holding my position quite well into the run & not losing too much time to the leaders, all the while conscious of the looming 90 second rule, fall behind 90secs of the leader when they you go through the dismount line each lap and you’re eliminated!
Heading out onto the swim with Jo Brown ahead in my sights, & summer behind. Working to catch Jo In the water for the final swim, heading out for the last 4 laps up Mount Mallorca, the tricky thing is though with the 90second rule, as we’d fallen behind the leaders while we were swimming they were onto the bike riding, so we therefore were losing time quickly!
Heading out onto the bike just over 1 minute down, another good transition saw me riding up the mountain ahead of Jo Brown & chasing my room mate & “mountain goat” friend Charlotte up the road! By lap 2 Jo had caught & we were riding together. By the last lap of the bike I went through at 1:22 behind and by the end of the bike was only just eliminated before the final run of 2 days of racing unfortunately. Finishing in 9th again today among what was really a World Class top 10 field!
A big congratulations to the Women’s Podium; Taylor Spivey who executed terrifically today on all aspects, Kirsten Kasper and Katie Zaferes, true champions and proving to be quite untouchable as we all take a break now to rest, reset and refresh for 2019, returning for the Superleague Triathlon Championships Series Grand Final In Singapore in February next year! I already can’t wait!
Photo by: Superleague Triathlon