18.09.12

World Half Ironman Championships Las Vegas - I was super excited to be racing at the World 70.3 (half Ironman) champs in Las Vegas as this is the new direction I am heading in my triathlon career. To be honest...

Bevan Docherty

I was super excited to be racing at the World 70.3 (half Ironman) champs in Las Vegas as this is the new direction I am heading in my triathlon career. To be honest the preparation for the event hadn’t gone completely to plan, but I did have an Olympic campaign behind me and was hoping that that was going to be enough to see me through!


The course is actually held on the outskirts of Las Vegas with split transition between Lake Las Vegas and Henderson. The event is considered one of the most difficult due to the hilly bike course and intense Nevada heat. I was excited about the hills but not the heat, which just sucks everything out of you and that’s even before you try to exercise!


Fortunately enough the pro’s were off at 6:30am, which meant a 4am wake‐up! I’m OK with anything to escape the heat! So what do you eat at 4am before a half Ironman? Your guess is as good as mine ‐ this is all new to me! I was just filled with questions like what to eat, what to wear, how much fluid on the bike, and what bag to drop here and there. I felt like an amateur again! Fortunately I was surrounded by a lot of good friends, Paul Mathews, Craig Alexander, Richie Cunningham, all experienced long course athletes with heaps of advice, so standing with them just before the start I felt relaxed, just like I was meant to be there and this distance/scene was for me.


The water in the lake was a tropical 85 F, and I was actually quite surprised by how quickly everyone took off in the swim! Admittedly we did have some of the fastest swimmers in the sport with Andy Potts and Josh Amburger pushing the pace at the front, I was just content to sit at the back of the front group and play a waiting game. I had only raced two half’s before this, one 12 years ago and the other at the start of the year, so I was very new to this distance and from what I understand it’s a bit of a game of patience, you still need to be in the mix, but you also need to hold onto your cards until just the right time!

I exited the water at the back of the front group and very quickly worked my way to about 5th position. With this new sport comes a whole bunch of new rules, one of the key things for me was going to be able to stay out of trouble and not get penalized for anything stupid. Probably the toughest things to learn is the non‐drafting rule, you have to stay 10m behind the guy in front, if you pass you have to pass everyone unless there is room for you to slot in to the group again. Follow? This is very different to the “stagger” non‐drafting rule I’m used to. Also with the nature of this hilly course you had to stay focused throughout the entire bike, coming into a hill the pace would slow and you would have to almost brake to prevent yourself from getting too close to the athlete in front, over a rise you would have to accelerate in order to not loose contact of the “group”. So throughout the 90km bike I was constantly accelerating and de‐accelerating, similar to an ITU draft legal race.

As the bike wore on slowly guys would drop off the pace as the “group” dwindled from 14 at the start of the bike to 6 towards the end. Unfortunately someone, I had no idea who he was, rode off the front and gapped the group by 3 minutes!

Like I say this is a very new distance to me, I have to be respectful of how difficult it is and know that it’s going to take time to understand the sport and also my body’s limits. That said I had no intensions of trying to chase that guy down, it seemed like an all or nothing move in this heat and I wanted to just stay in the safety on the “group” with experienced guys like Craig Alexander (Crowie).

To my surprise I started feeling really good and strong in the later stages of the bike, probably as the bottle of Coke I downed started to kick in. Nutrition is key in this game.

Another new experience for me was not having to rack my bike, you basically get off your bike hand it to someone, grab your shoes and start running! Easy.

Out on the run and you could feel the heat starting to kick in, as I quickly settled into a comfortable pace, I quickly joined the battle for 2nd with 5 time World Champion
Craig Alexander and top American Tim O’Donnell.

The 21km run was 3 laps on a tough hilly hot course, but to my surprise after one lap I felt like a million $, time to make my move for the win! It really seemed like a great idea at the time as I gapped the others. However that was short lived as 5km later I began to pay for my effort! What was I saying about patience and knowing when to play your cards?

From that point on it was a game of survival as Crowie gapped me for 2nd and I tried to hold it together for 3rd. Throughout the last lap of the run all I could think about was how much better it would have been if I prepared properly for this event, but one thing I know how to do is hurt, and I hurt myself through to the finish line for a very happy 3rd placing at my first ½ Ironman World Champs.

I have to give a lot of respect to this sport, it is by no means easy and you have to be prepared, but I am very excited about my future in this sport, and given time I know I can be one of the best!

Bevan

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