Me in Silver, Suzanne Chandler, Canada Gold, Bev Thomas, Aus Silver
Wow that was a race and a half.
ITU World Triathlon Championships, Gold Coast, 12th September.
2.09.02…21.51 swim, 1.03.39 bike, 40.56 run
Silver medal 35-39yrs
6th overall out of all Female Age Groupers
2nd Fastest GBR finisher.
I am thrilled to report after a challenging season with my PF issues that I managed to get another silver medal. What is more I was only a nail biting 8 secs from the Gold behind canadian, Suzanne Chandler.
We had a great race, exiting the swim in 3rd and 5th and pretty well riding the bike at the same pace, although I had to dig in at the beginning to get back to her as she powered off down the road. I knew we were flying as we began to pass alot of the 30-34yrs GBR age groupers well up the field who had a 7 mins start over us. We dismounted together and now the race was just getting started.
As I headed out on the run I was tentative not feeling too sure how the foot would respond. I let a gap open up which I think went out to 15 secs but from 3-7.5km the gap did not seem to grow. So at the top turn I made my effort, the foot was sore but I just buried myself to see if I could close the gap down. I thought I would get back to Suzanne but as one would expect she checked her shoulder with 500m to go and we both sprinted to the line at the same pace, I had left it too late. That said it was a great thrill to give it a go and finish so closely.
In hot pursuit was my ex Uni friend Bev Thomas who was a further 26 secs behind me. As ever she posted the fastest run split of the day and was also closing fast.
The foot knows it has been in a race, but it does improve each day so I hope in a few more months to get things back to normal but still some way to go. To have achieved this performance is beyond my wildest dreams and I am indebted to all that have helped me…you know who you are!!!, thanks a million.
Mike had a great race too, 63rd out of 90 in is category 50-54 and beat me on the swim so yet another rivalry is renewed!!
We are now in Melbourne for me to do some work out of Cadbury Australia and to catch up with Bev Thomas my friend and triathlon rival who is based here…unfortunately we will never escape each other ever, ever as we were born on the same day!
