21 November 2011

Auckland 2012 ITU World Champs qualifier/course

Hey!
It went OK and I really enjoyed catching up with lots of people I haven't seen in years.  Very nice week-end with great friends.  The event was very, very well organized and roads were closed to traffic. 
We started in our own wave of 50-54 men.  About 50 of us I think.
So Rick Wells took off right from the gun and was gone, and I was 2nd so no one to draft off of which was a bummer.
The ocean water was about 68 Degrees F so not so bad, a little wavey out there, some real current as we got out past the wharf.  Both of my transitions were typical Molina transitions so I've got an easy minute there to lose. 
I rode well.
Got caught by a couple of good riders and one of them named Steve Farrell is actually a good runner (and full time athlete.....   not too unlike me!) so he took off on the run and I ran just over 40 minutes to get 2nd.
I ran f..n hard and I am as sore as hell today!   Really nice to be able to run for a change as I really havent' been able to in a Tri for many years - since about '05 I think.  Not a short run course that's for sure.  Fastest age group run was Rob Creasy in 34:51, with Coach Newsom running 36:30.
So I will be at the World Champs next October.
Its a pretty tough, hilly bike ride,  No hills longer than about 3 minutes but there's about 8 of them all together which makes it pretty hard.
The Sprint race is one lap of the same bike and run courses.  (We did 2 laps of each).
If it rains during the race next year it will be f...n miserable and there will be a lot crashes!
The run is flat.   
I've got a year to get ready and if I don't go at least 4 minutes faster I'd be disappointed.   
Cheers, Scott

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