ITU WCS Kitzbuhel
22 June 2011
ITU WCS Kitzbuhel, Austria
It’s 1:39am post race in Austria. I’m wide‐awake (even after taking a sleeping pill) and I thought to myself ‘what better time to write my race report!’ It never used to be like this. I can remember being able to sleep on demand. I used to just think jet lag was something “other” people got and complained about, not me!
Well it’s amazing what a few years and a few grey hairs can do. Now flying to Europe from the US screws me up so bad that the hours of 1am ‐ 7am are either Spent looking at the ceiling or surfing the internet.
Fortunately enough, I would come into my element in the afternoons, and therefore, I don’t think my jet lag messed too much with my racing. Although, after another very dominating performance by Alistair Brownlee, it would have been great to have an excuse!
The past few years at this event haven’t been that great. Last year I’d burnt
myself out, and the year before I crashed on the bike. So I was keen to put together a solid performance. I was coming into some good form after finishing 2nd in Alcatraz two weeks ago. I was pumped for a good race.
When I woke to pouring rain here in Kitzbuhel, the nerves and apprehension kicked in. Also, in being so close to our 1st selection race in London, you don’t want to screw it up with a crash or something silly like that.
One interesting element in the race was the return of Chris McCormack aka “Macca” to ITU racing. Macca is an amazing athlete, but I think he underestimated how much the sport has evolved over the years he was gone. There was a large entourage following him around. A lot of talk and hype about the showdown with him and Brownlee. Sure enough, the hype turned into reality as he exited the water 1 minute down. Then after a couple of laps on the bike, when he was over 3 minutes down, he pulled the pin.
This goes to show how different the sports of ITU racing and Ironman are. They might be swim‐bike‐run, but that’s where it stops. Hopefully, this will give our sport a little more credit it deserves, as I believe it is the formula 1 of triathlon!
I managed to have an okay swim, and comfortably made it into the lead group, as did 50 others in the race. The conditions on the bike were very dodgy out there, but that didn’t slow the pace. In‐fact, it seemed to get faster! I’d been doing a fair amount of work on my biking the last few months, so I was very comfortable with the pace, just not the other 49 guys dodging all over the road…
A key break got away with 2 laps to go, but unfortunately, I reacted too late and just missed it. I’m kicking myself now as it contained 3 great athletes, including Brownlee! We were now racing for 2nd!
Coming into T2, I just got hammered. Having spent most of the bike toward the front, going into the final 1km, a lack of aggression resulted in me being at the back and having to play catch up over the first km of the run. Thankfully, I still had pretty good legs and was able to get into a great rhythm straight away.
By this stage we were not only battling each other but also the weather, with a few athletes dropping out because of the cold conditions. I fought onward, running myself up to 10th to score some valuable Olympic points for NZ.
It’s obviously not my best result, however, I was pretty satisfied as it shows a big sign of improvement and an upward trend in my form at the right time. There is still plenty of work to be done, but I know I‘ve got it in me.
Next race is Edmonton, Canada, in 3 weeks time. I can’t wait!
Bevan
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