Blogs

Tue, 19 Jul 2011

Hamburg WCS . . . Go Team Dillon!

By Jodie Stimpson - Vision Fitness Ambassador

The lead up to the race went quite well, with me traveling to Hamburg on the Thursday mid-morning after a swim and getting there around lunch time where I went for a run and then did the usual Briefing. They really need to sort out having the briefing on the Friday or the day before the race, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper! Anyway so briefing was the same as always, usually we're told about any changes to the course, reminded about penalties, our race packs and handed to us and then off we trot for the GB team dinner. With a smaller GB team racing this weekend it was quite a cosy affair, but still nice, and then it was off to bed.

Friday is usually a day off but this week Michelle let me do a swim, she knew I would find it hard to not do anything with other athletes doing stuff throughout the day, so I swam at the 50m swimming pool which was a nice change as I don't get that luxury back in the Black Country or Birmingham!!! The rest of the day was spent watching chick flick "Just go with it" (it did the job) and the Tour 2011 which also gave me some entertainment.

Saturday was the men's race and what a race it was! With it all ending in a 5 way sprint finish between Team Dillon team mate Will Clark, Australian Brad Kahlefeldt, France's David Hauss , Spain's Javier Gomez, and a home boy German Sebastian Rank, where Brad came out on top, Clarkey second and David 3rd. BIG BIG BIG CONGRATULATIONS Clarkey, you did amazing and all your hard work is paying off, your race was truly inspirational to watch, it defiantly gave me a boost for my race to come!

So,race morning came and I did my usual, got up and went for a easy jog and then went down for breakfast around 9.00am, I tried to sleep in a bit longer but obviously my body had other ideas and wanted to get up,! So then after breakfast it was just a matter of doing nothing until the race start at 3.20pm.

I went down to the race about 90 minutes before, set up transition, warmed up and was ready to race. I went into the race wearing number 10, so I thought I would have a good swim next to the top ranked athletes but the athletes split going onto the pontoon and I choose left. Looking back now I don't think it would have mattered where I started, I just wasn't quick enough to the first buoy and then I had to swim the long way around to get out of the fighting but then going into the tunnel I was still in a fight and I have to say sorry to Moffy as it was either her or the wall at some points. So out and back in to try and play catch up and I tried to get past as many athletes as I could on the littler lap, and I came into T1 just off the front of the leaders in about 24th ish position, but they were in sight!!!!!

It was Lucy Hall's first WCS race and she did fantastically well leading the swim from start to finish, I need to take some tips from her, and finishing 37th overall, very well done mate, well deserved!!!

So then onto the bike and I caught the pack just before the first lap of 8 and then the pack grew to around 35 women, which was more than enough, especially on this technical course!! The pace was on and off, mainly because everyone wanted to be at the front through the technical sections and going for the specialized prime, so the tempo was very up and down with sprinting one minute, to quite slow the next.

Coming into the end of the bike the pace picked up and I got myself into a good position getting into T2 on the front line to have a clear run and I exited about 5th.

Emma Moffatt took the pace on straight away, so I sat in behind her and Barbara Riveros Diaz, (just like the Paris FGP). I felt good and was comfortable running behind them, then through the first lap at about the 3km point the group was joined by another 2 Emma's from Australia; Snowsill and Jackson and the pace moved on. I tried to keep them within a distance which I did for a while but the gap grew on lap 3, so there was then the 3 Emma's out in front with another group of 4 women running just in front of me. I kept focused and tried to catch up with them, I started to feel stronger on the last lap, with Erin coming back to me but it wasn't enough, I had a sprint finish to finish 9th overall, which I am 3/4 pleased with.

Now back to some hard training before London Hyde Park, hope to see you all there!!

Jode
Xxx

For more information about Jodie Stimpson - Great Britain Triathlete, visit www.jodiestimpson.co.uk.