Here we are in Cozumel Mexico where I just took silver in
the Ironman 70.3 Cozumel today. It is hard to believe as I start to write this
it is bucketing with rain outside and there are still a lot of Amateur athletes
out on the run. Until about 30minutes after we crossed the finish line the
conditions were near perfect, slightly overcast, not too much wind, a nice
amount of heat and a lot of humidity. Now tents are being ripped down by the
wind and rain, and the roads are completely flooded. Words cannot describe the
respect I have for those people still out on the course, firstly the athletes
running in ankle deep water and most importantly all the volunteers still out
there with huge smiles of encouragement on their faces. RESPECT!
There are actually two tropical storms over Mexico at the
moment, Hurricane Ingrid on the Gulf
Coast and Tropical Storm Manuel on the Pacific coast and while we are
not in the worst of it, it is devastating to see what they have done to parts
of the country.
This would have to be one of the toughest fields here in
Cozumel, I find myself saying that about a lot of races these days, it is great
to see how much the sport and the athletes have developed over the past couple
years. There were a number of guys I had my eye on today, but I knew what I
wanted to accomplish from the race and went out and did my thing.
The swim was relatively uneventful, we swam all over the
place and the pace was very controlled, this was not ideal as I was hoping we
would get a small buffer on some of the stronger bike/runners, which we didn’t.
Also, I want to say a massive thank you to Miguel and the Aqua Sphere team down
here for looking after me, it has been a blast!
Onto the bike, I made my move that would later go on to
decide the race at 20km in. This section of the course was meant to have really
strong cross winds which I was praying for, but today it was relatively calm,
still I put the pedal to the metal on my new Argon 18 bike and basically
thought I was Sebastian Kienle (70.3 world champ who beat me by breaking away
on the bike). I tried not to look back for 30minutes and just push as hard as I
could and by that time there were only 3 left, James Cunnama, who would go on
to win today, Matt Chrabot, who has just recently stepped up from ITU and had a
great race to finish 3rd and fellow Kiwi Tom Davidson, who missed
the first 4 aid stations and paid for it when the run started.
After the initial damage was done we started taking good
time out of the rest of the field and it would come down to who had the most in
the tank for the run.
Transition had a nice layer of water and oil and by the time
I got off the carpeted section and hit the concrete to make a turn to our gear
bags I was sliding, first on my feet, then on my back for a good 5meters,
luckily a parked car that was inconveniently parked stopped my slide.
Off onto the run and my tank was definitely a little empty,
I had a lead out the gates which quickly got swallowed up by James and Matt and
soon James was on the front setting a good tempo. To be honest, the way I was
feeling, the end of the run, which would mark the end of this training block,
couldn’t come fast enough. I kept it together for most of the run, but James
who lives and trains here on the Island of Cozumel paced the run well, he got a
little gap with 3 miles to go and the imaginary rubber band that was keeping me
up with him soon snapped, luckily the rubber band Matt had attached snapped a
little earlier. No one gave up and it was a fight all the way to the final
100meters.
While a victory would have topped off the last month I got
what I needed to, out of the event and I am looking forward to the onward
progression through the remainder of the season.
I have a could weeks of vacation planned which I think is
well earned both on mine and Kelly’s part and then I will build up for Miami
70.3, then head back south and finish the season with Mandurah and Shepparton
70.3’s across the ditch in Australia.
