Before I get into the race brief I do believe that as part of your triathlon career an ITU World Championship is something to strive for and experience.
Each and every one of you can do this. Why?
- On average each Age Group only had 60% representation on the day. 12 athletes out of a possible 20 which means plenty of spots available.
- We have dedicated and professional coaches Toby, Karen and Todd, also great skilled volunteers in Brendon, Darryl, Jason, Sue, Diarmuid and Nicola.
- A well organised club with a top President Eric.
~This year the ITU Worlds was held in Chicago which was friendly, clean and had a nice atmosphere about it. They loved their buildings and on a tour I nearly fell asleep as all they talked about was buildings. Guess who owns the building in the picture?
Race Brief for last Thursday’s 2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago Sprint Distance.
On the way to the transition area we were lucky enough to see Jacob Birtwhistle take out the Under 23 men’s race for Australia.
The weather in Chicago is similar to Melbourne, one minute it’s raining, next sunny, next windy and next cold and overcast. It was like that all week. Thursday started off cool but ended up 34c in our run.
Swim was a wetsuit straight 750m, 17 degrees fresh water, slight chop and no current. I asked Jacki to give me a high 5 when I got out of the water if I was in the first 10. I didn’t get a five but got a grimace and was a bit taken back because I seemed to be overtaking everyone. I was quite pleased with myself until then.
T1 was about 700m, gave myself time to get the wet suit half off. No towels or marking of your bike allowed in the transition area so it was best to take it a bit calmer and not miss the bike.
Ride was mostly flat but really potholed and bumpy which caused a lot of mechanical damage to some Aussie bikes, broken elbow rests and bent aero bars. Some guy’s bunny hoped the bumps.
T2 dismount run 100m+, straight forward.
Run was really starting to heat up and drain everyone, some of the guys normally ran sub 18 ended up in the 20 minute mark. Around a huge fountain twice which was great for spectators and finally through the finish chute.
Results were up that afternoon. The fastest Aussie at home and in the race for my Age Group came 16th. Mid field for me overall and 7th Aussie out of 16.
http://wts.triathlon.org/results/result/2015_itu_world_triathlon_grand_final_chicago
Saturday’ 
s Open Age Olympic Race
I raced the Open Age Group Olympic race on Saturday and was allowed to race in the Aussie strip.
Swim was cut to a 750m as it was so windy and cold I think the organisers thought most people wouldn’t make it. They didn’t give us much warning so half of the wave weren’t in the water when they started; yours truly missed the start again. Caught up and came out of the water 15th.
T1 was over 1K away and a bit of a cluster …. in the transition area.
Bike circuit was really cool going under the roads were the Blues Brothers and Dark Night movies were filmed. The wind was still evident under the road and the course really windy and technical. Towards the end there were a lot of people dawdling along which made it a bit difficult.
T2 all good.
Run, just loved it and finally felt less jet lagged. It was close to perfect conditions with a bit of cloud and warm. The run course was the same as the sprint just 2 more laps around the fountain.
Fastest 10K for me and came 2nd out of 35 in my Age Group for the Open race.
Conclusion
Amazing week and a real eye opener realising how fast some of the guys were. I totally recommend doing an ITU World Championship for anyone that is competitive.
Next Final is September 2016 in Mexico on an Island called Cozumel which looks fantastic!
