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London Triathlon Win!

The London Triathlon is definitely one of my favourite races. It is well run, has closed roads and is in London which means I can sleep in my own bed the night before. I love the race and after winning my age group there last year, I was keen to have another shot at winning there.

My parents came over from Australia specially to see this race as they know it is one of my favourites and the last time they saw me race was when I used to do 5km cross country in my late teens! It was great having them there along with The Dutchman and certainly made it easy to find my support crew with my Mum shouting louder than anyone else and The Dutchman being a head taller than the crowd!

One of the things I love most about London Tri is the huge number of ‘newbies’ who choose that race to give triathlon a go. It makes for a really great atmosphere and highlights the popularity that triathlon is currently enjoying.

Everyone is put into a holding pen to begin where we get a race overview and then the adrenalin pumping with some cheering and Oggi! Oggi! Oggi’s! The special touch is that you have to give the person next to you a hug to wish them luck.

We then head down the stairs and onto the pontoon to jump in the COLD water. It topped the thermometer at 17.2 degrees, however saying that once the initial shock is over, race nerves kick back in again and before you know it the race is off. The course had been changed this year we were swimming in a clockwise direction which I prefer, as I breathe on the left, so I could keep close to the buoys on my right and keep an eye on what was happening in the pack.

I went out hard from the gun but it is always difficult with so many people so you do get a bit battered. I’m not really bothered by that and just keep focused and trying to find some clear water out of the way of kicking feet. The pushing and shoving lasted almost until the turnaround point which was good in some respects because I was focused on swimming hard to get where I wanted to be so I wasn’t thinking about how far we had swum.

After the turnaround it is amazing how many people you can overtake, and I guess that is where race experience comes into it in that I can pace myself over the distance. Out of the water and into a long transition which involved a couple hundred metres of running, including a flight of stairs! Wetsuits come off before heading back into the Excel centre and the trick is to run to the last person as they are always free to help you get your wetsuit into the bag provided.

My transition was fast and I was out on the bike in no time. I started cranking up the pace and was feeling good, only to make a silly error of missing the turnaround point for lap one! I realised my mistake a few hundred metres down the road and was lucky that I could cut across the course and get back on track. With an extra 500m in the bag, the adrenalin was really pumping now!!
I love that we get to go through the Blackwell Tunnel which is closed to traffic. It slopes down and you have a tailwind so being on my Focus Izalco Chrono means I can fly through there. It is such a buzz going that fast down in the aero position which everything rushing past. I was in the first female wave to go so I could see who was ahead of me on the bike which works well for me, I get really fired up about seeing the girls ahead of me and love chasing them down!

I was off the bike in 4th place and had some running to do to close the gap. I caught the first 2 girls within 1500m and couldn’t find the girl in front anywhere. The course was quite congested but with having turnaround points you can usually see who is ahead of you. In those situations the only thing you can do is just run as hard as possible. With the course changes, my time was slower than last year but I was really pleased with my performance and really pleased with 2nd place. When I checked the results later on that day, I was ecstatic to see I had won my age group! I have no idea what happened to the girl ahead of me and I do hope she is OK.

I’m in Nice now for a spot of recovery and to show the sites to Mum and Dad. It is going to be a shock to the system next week as I am going back to working full time! Having worked 4 days a week up until June and then not working at all for the past 6 weeks, it is going to be tough! Saying that I am looking forward to starting my new job.

Next race for me is another sprint race at Dorney Lake. I slipped one of those in pre London Tri and came in 3rd. So far it has been a really great season for me with every race being a podium finish! Hopefully I can continue the trend!

Happy training.
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