HERE IS MIKE SMALLWOODS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS REPORT FROM THE WORLD TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS Better late than never but just for interest heres a report on my 3rd race at Edmonton: That was 2 out of the three and now there was a 3 day gap to the toughest event which was the standard / Olympic distance triathlon. This consisted of a 1500m swim, a 40km bike rice and 10k run. The swim was 2 laps of the now familiar lake and again I got off to a good start and despite having to stop to demist my goggles I came out of the water in 4th position. Again it was the same long run to T1 by which time I had overtaken 2 of those in front of me. The bike course was even better that that for the Sprint in that there was now included several long fast straight sections. Right from the start of the bike section I was nip and tuck with a former world champion for this distance who I knew well. We pushed each other (without drafting) to some good speeds. At the start of the second lap I accepted that I was not going to be able drop him and I knew from past bitter experience that he was a much faster runner than me so I made the tactical decision to let him go and save my legs for the 10k run which was always going to be tough for me. When we came into T2 the Austrian was only 40 seconds ahead of me but crucially there were no other bikes racked so I knew that I was in 2nd place at this point. From here on it was again a case of running scared and holding on as best I could. The second lap of the run started to get harder and harder and my pace was starting to slow down. At the infamous dead turn 1.5km from the finish my heart sank when I saw an American that I recognised from the Aquathlon and who I knew was a very good runner, so again no easy run in. Now the metaphorical wheels started to come off and my pace got even slower and more laboured but as I approached the finishing area there was tremendous support from the British supporters and they kept me going. As I came onto the blue carpet for the final 100m (which looked like 500m) it was all I could do to drag my feet forward but the crowd in the grandstand again provided the necessary lift to keep going and to my great relief as I glanced over my shoulder fortunately there was no one chasing me down. I stumbled over the line in a final time of 2hr 29m 20s. I knew that there was at least the Austrian ahead of me but after a long wait for the results I found out that an American and Canadian had also gone past me on the run so it was a final placing of 4th. After the hamstring injury that I’ve had this year and lack of running training this result was more than I could have hoped for so I was extremely satisfied. The final outcome – a 3rd, 4th and 5th at a World Championship – more than happy. WELL WE ARE ALL OUT OF BREATH JUST READING THIS, MIKE IS GOING TO BE 68 YEARS OLD IN NOVEMBER..... YOU YOUNGSTERS IF YOU NEED INSPIRATION: LOOK NO FURTHER..... LS
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:39:55 +0000
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