Henderson ITU Long Distance Triathlon
GB age group long distance triathlon world championships, 
(4k swim, 120k bike, 30k run)

5th November 2011

 

Official Results

Swim Bike 120K Run 30K Total
Gill Fullen Cancelled 4.02.09 2.18.23 6.22.36 2nd LV45
Angela Harris Cancelled 4.43.58 3.04.30 7.51.52 25th LV50
 


Race Report:

I'd like to say that the day of the race dawned, but it didn't until much later, since we were already up at 4am for ready brek and banana breakfast. Body tattoos were the next amusement (I managed to mangle mine completely and had to race with one upside down). We struggled apprehensively into our wet-suits over our brand new GB tri-suits and went down to the hotel lobby to be greeted by chaos!

The rumour was that the swim was canceled and since we were rather conspicuously in our wet-suits, we obviously hadn't heard. We were both devastated! Having spent hours in the pool lately developing gills, we were both keen to get a good swim time to start the day. We were also rather suspicious that our fair weather Stateside friends were just being a bit wimpy – it just wasn't that cold! But the ruling came through eventually from the GB team manager and wet-suits were put away and we had to face the disappointment of having traveled all the way to the US just to do a duathlon.

The bike start proceeded (eventually) in number order, so the fastest and youngest males first, then the ladies in the same order, leaving us old codgers to go off towards the end and feel very left out of the race. We were all cold and shivering by the time we set off and began to be a little grateful that we weren't wet too. The course took us out into the desert around lake Mead over steadily rolling hills and with strong gusty winds. The sharpest ascents came after 55miles in the shape of the three sisters; 3 short, sharp climbs which posed the threat of tiring the legs for the run if attacked too hard and were a serious hurdle to already tired legs. After this the course climbed gently but steadily for another 15miles towards the finish and made the ride towards home seem endless.

Bikes were smartly whipped off us as we came into transition and set off on the four lap run course. The first mile was downhill, the second two miles uphill and the third downhill again, so there was recovery and a decent pace possible on the downs but the long, admittedly not steep, drag up sapped strength and made it tempting to give in and not push on. There was loads of support on the run though, and seeing the other Brits racing too was incentive to keep the effort level up.

The final downhill I took at near sprint speed, with nothing to lose and a German lady to catch. I finished way too strong, realising that I should have run harder earlier, but to my amazement found I was only 3.30 mins off the awesome German, and had biked and run my way to a silver medal placing. I have to admit to being quite emotional at the time and apologise to the GB team member who took the brunt of my excitement.

Angie achieved the pace goals she had set herself before the race and would have undoubtedly gained a significantly higher placing in her age group if the swim had not been canceled, and she still managed to come in third Brit in the category.
 

We both loved the experience of being part of the GB team and are definitely looking at other races we can do to get some more wear out of our new tri-suits!

Gill

 

 

 

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