ITU CROSS TRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2014. HOW IT UNFOLDED AND SOME THOUGHTS: Two days after the race it finally started to sink in what really happened on Saturday and what it meant to win this 2014 Zittau ITU Cross Triathlon WM AMATEUR - WORLD TITLE. This race was so incredibly hard, not just physically, even more mentally and emotionally and tought me so many lessons while asking for all I had to give on that day. I lined up with a broken toe, I knew I can train and race on it, it wouldn´t be that comfortable, but it didn´t make me slower on the run. So I just erased any worries from my mind and bit my teeth. Everything was going so well from the start as soon as the cannon went off. I swam pretty well, got out of the water in 3rd in my category and after I found my rhythm on the extremly muddy, hilly and difficult but beautiful MTB-course I was so confident I could really get a medal or maybe even better ...?! Then suddenly at the 20k mark on the bike I realized that I was loosing air in my rear-tire! NOOOO, the worst nightmare of any triathlete, please not a mechanical! Not now, not in this race! OK, I am running tubeless tires, so the first step was to get air back in the tire. I jumped off the bike, ripped the oversized CO2 off my seatpost and shot in air. I heard a silent „ssssshhh“ OK, it´s a leak but at least I could ride for a while and figure out what to do further. I got back on the bike and hoped the tire-sealant would take care of it. At least I had another shot left in my CO2. After a few KM of riding like a lunatic I realized I was still loosing air and there was no chance to get to T2 in a decend time this way. I asked a fellow athlete if he was willing to give me his pitstop spray, he ripped it off and gave it to me right away. After another 2KM I jumped off the bike again on a flat stretch, put the pitstop on the valve and started to shoot it in, only a bit got in and the front-piece was blown off. Useless without it. No, it was the first time I was starting to doubt if I could even finish while athletes blew by me on their bikes. I took the rest of my CO2 and shot it in, got back on and kept riding hard while my brain was spinning ... ???!!! After 28k I was asking a Spanish athlete if he would help me out with his pitstop-canister. He ripped it off and put it in my hand while we were going through a muddy trail together. Then we got to the last climb, 22% gradiante. I felt my soft rear-tire, but had a good grip and passed quite a few people until the top. There and before the last crazy decent (see video here: https://facebook/photo.php?v=10204594797974154 ) I jumped off, put the canister on the valve, shot as much air and foam in as I could get in (foam not that much actually) and went down the decent like crazy ☺. I still was loosing air but it was only 4km to go. I put all my weight forward onto the handlebars, opened my rear-shock to save air and rode my heart out. I reached T2 with not more than maybe not even ½ bar of air in my rear-tire, just barely not totally riding on the rim as I rolled towards the line to jump off my bike. All I wanted was to reach T2 without loosing to much time on the bike, I guess I limited the loss to maybe 5-6 minutes. But my competition was ahead, I didn´t know how far and how many athletes there were, but if I would be able to run today I promised myself to run as hard as possible. If I can do something it´s running, that´s where I feel myself the most and what I can trust in. And that´s exactly what I did, for this race, for my life, for all the people that were thinking of me that moment and supporting me, my friends, my family, my loved ones. Giving up was simply not an option, certainly not this race and certainly not the chance to get a medal. I ran as hard as I could and was telling myself, if you will be 4th later by maybe 3 seconds and miss a medal you will always ask how could I have gone a bit harder and faster. I ran with the conciousness that on that finish-line I wanted to just drop and know I left it all out there, ALL!!! Everything hurt, my shoulders, my arms, my heart, my lungs, my legs. I passed so many athletes and didn´t even look who it was, some just looked at me and possibly thought: he must be crazy... they were actually right ☺! I JUST WANTED TO RUN AND WAS ALLOWED TO DO SO! The last KM I sprinted with an invisible oponent, against myself! I just ran, down the last hill, over the last barrier and into the finish. I dropped and all got black for a moment. I was devastated and happy at the same time. I finished but my hope to have a good result was not big knowing how competitive it was here. After I had showered and cleaned myself, I chatted a bit with friends and tried to find out where I actually ended up. We found an overall result of our start-group containing all athletes from 18-44 years. I had no big hope to not have at least 3 guys of the strong M40 category ahead of me. I started to look at the age of the athletes. But strangely I didn´t find any of M40-44 ahead of me, the next three in my category were within 1:23min behind me. That meanth I actually was off the bike in 4th (with the 5th bike-split) and had overtaken all of them on the run, the 2nd placed man Gergoire Bouchet from France with possibly maybe 1km to go. That can´t be true ...!!?? I WON THE TITLE, I WON. By 30 seconds. This can´t be true, there was nothing perfect on this race. No, it wasn´t. It was a race where the worst nightmare of every triathlete came true. But it was also a race of not giving up, but thinking of those that believe in you, love you and support you, give you the courage and strength to fight and keep fighting to not give in and give up until the last step. A race of a testament of sportsmanship of two fellow athletes giving me their repair-kit to help me and knowing if they would flat they would have no way of finishing their own race. I was very emotional when I called my loved ones to tell them the news. Later I saw both athletes that had helped me at the finish and thanked them both. One of the two is fellow Spaniard Anibal Fidalgo. I met him again when I came down the stage after I received my medal at the award- ceremony and said to him: „You know Anibal that I would have not even have seen T2 today if you would have not helped me!“ He said: „No problem Tommy, today it was for you, tomorrow it happens to me.“ I was struck by what he said. He meant the good things, he meant what you give you will receive one day. I hugged him and thanked him again. That´s the quint-essential message of this race for myself: Never give up, never stop believing and trusting. Karma will take care of you, be positive, be a light and rock for others. Love what you do and do what you love... Inspire others and always give your best, support others. I am endlessly happy and thankful for this experience. Thank you to all those that are part of my journey called life, to all those that make a difference, all the people I can share the love for this sport with. To my parents Anneliese and Gerhard, my stepmom Sonja, my Hawaiian parents Sharon and Randy Cislo, Claire and Rick Robinson, my family, my friends among them my friend Stefan who I know for decades and saw me become an athlete, Jennifer and Tad Nottage, Val Rosa, Andressa and Christian Loureiro, to my friend & training-buddy José Ricardo Graça for all the great training and friendship we share. To my coach Mario Huys of MARIO HUYS COACHING who I work with for 12 years now, you are amazing Mario! And of course especially to Camila for all your love, support, good energy and all the difference you made in my world. Thank you to my friend Bernd Kiesel, Anja Reintanz and Romy for organizing a great accomodation and the three and Jörg Schneider , Peter Schuppe and Co. for the great times we had. Congratulations to all that lined up and raced in this tough conditions and the organizers for putting on an amazing event. Thank you to all my sponsors and supporters: Schelling Anlagenbau GmbH, Rauch international, ENVE Composites, ALPLA – Da geht was weiter., Ignite Naturals, Skinfit International, XTERRA Wetsuits, Pacific Island Fitness - Hawaii Pasqual N Julie & Bernal Entrepreneurs), Island Lava Java, Zoggs Deutschland, Land Vorarlberg. THANK YOU to all those I didn´t mention! Don´t forget to keep spreading the good energy: „Today good happens to others, keep being positive and it will happen to you tomorrow!“ MAHALO! (Pictures (c) Jundpicture - Jana Wersch & KrausigArt (Fotografie))
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:32:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015