Mooloolaba 4th - Debbie
12 April 2007
Well it was a exciting weekend, with the first round of the World Cup kicking off in Mooloolaba, Australia.
80 strong Women lined up with the top 23 of the 25 in the world a being on the start line, very similar to World Champs or even Olympic Games field
It was a hot day with temperatures soaring into the 30's. A big focus for me was to have a strong swim. The course was a beach start and a wade into the in
coming surf. I really enjoy the surf swims as it mixes it up a bit. I exited the water in the front group of nine and was third out onto the bike.
After starting off on the bike and preparing to put my foot into my shoe I found that my shoe was not clipped in and ended up in my hand, not really the optimal place of my cycle shoe at this point and time... lucky enough it stayed in my hand and I was able to fix the problem pretty quickly.
The front group started to work together on the eight lap hilly bike course, however soon the chase group caught and the front pack was 25 plus strong.
Coming into transition it was looking like the pace would be on quickly. I exited out in second place quickly closing the gap and taking the lead. Soon to be
heard breathing down my neck was Emma Snowsill, (World Champ) Vanessa Fernades (Won the past 12 world cups) and Erin Denshaw (World U23 Champ)so the four of us soon made a gap on the rest of the field and the pace rocketed onwards and upwards.
Onto the second lap of the four and Emma and Vanessa had made a slight gap on myself and Erin. We both ran hard over the hilly course, but where unable to
close the gap on the two leaders.
I crossed the finish line in 4th place and with this world class field I was defiantly happy with as I am still yet to get into speed work in my training.
Now its about a few easy days before a couple of key sessions before heading out to Japan in a couple of weeks for the next round of the World Cup (Ishigaki) where I will look at defending my title :)
This will be another very strong field with almost all that raced in Mooloolaba racing here. This has been a very positive start to my season. I am at
present ranked 3rd in the world and with 3 Kiwis in the top 10 ranking New Zealand is at present ranked NO 1 country. I don’t think this has happened
before.
Thank you all for your support
Cheers
Deb
Back
