Well once again and for the 3rd year I headed off to New Caledonia to race the Ligue Calédonienne International de Triathlon in Noumea. It's a great race and the organizers do a great job at putting on an awesome event with a few other international triathletes. I was fourth here last year and was looking to go better this year, knowing I was in much better shape. The race started at 8am, and by this time it was already staring to warm up, which is perfect for me! I had a good 1500meter swim in my new blueseventy tri-suit and exited the water at the front in a group of 4. This was soon down to 3 with Michael Poole (NZL), a French athlete, and myself taking out the bike hard. At about 7km into the first lap another 3 athletes joined our trio, John Polson, Aaron Farlow and Patrick Vernay (the home crowds favorite). This was to remain for the rest of the 40km ride, with Cameron Brown behind working hard by himself to try and bridge the gap up to the front.
Off the bike it was now onto the 10km run!! There were 5 of us all together into the first 1km. The pace was solid with Polson slightly off the front and pushing the pace. I hung back with Farlow as I knew it was still a long way to go. We caught Polson at 2km and by this time there were only 3 of us left at the front, with Vernay and Poole trailing. I was feeling really comfortable and was just planning my tricky trick, which I did at about 6.5km! I surged hard and got away, my Brooks T6 racing flats were doing the trick and I instantly put a gap on the others and I knew this was the time to make it count, so I kept on pushing the pace. By 7.5km and going onto the last lap I had a sufficient gap back to Farlow who had now dropped Polson. I continued to run hard as I knew the race wasn't over until I crossed the finish line and by the time I got to the final turnaround I had opened the gap up even more. The crowd on the way back into transition and up to the finish shoot was great with hundreds of people lining the streets cheering all the athletes on. I came across the line winning my first Noumea International Triathlon in front of some other great athletes and a loud crowd. Farlow came in 2nd with Polson 3rd, Vernay 4th, Poole 5th, Brown 6th.
It was a great feeling to win this race in 2010, the 25th Anniversary of the race. Now its back to NZ to pack and get ready to head over to Boulder, Colorado USA to train with the rest of the Kiwi team, gearing up for the rest of the European Season!
It was also a great day for the Kiwis as Jo Lawn took out the honors of the female race.
No comments:
Post a Comment