We all hear about these 'International Triathlon Union races' which people head off to every so often. I decided to head off and do some research on behalf of Piranha.
So what is all the fuss about?
We all hear about these 'International Triathlon Union races' which people head off to every so often. I decided to head off and do some research on behalf of Piranha.
So what is all the fuss about?
The main difference between an ITU race and the races over here is that they are draft legal. This means that once you are on the bike it's legal to work together as a group with other competitors (or not as the case may be).
Drafting is meant to save up to 30% of your energy expenditure on the bike which should come in handy once you get to the run. It also means that unless you have a pretty good swim you can be left to cycle the course on your own and get none of the benefit of the draft.
With this in mind, I was prepared to work pretty hard on the swim. I'd chosen to go to the Holten triathlon as the swim was straight down a canal, which meant none of the navigational problems I usually experience in the swim! We were informed at registration that the water temperature was 22.6C, meaning no wetsuits were allowed. I hoped this might make the swim a bit slower - it didn't!
All I could think about was trying to keep in contact with a couple of girls so that I wouldn't be left on my tod on the bike. This all went pretty much to plan and after a sprint out of transition I ended up in a group of 6 for the 40km undulating bike course(yes the organisers proudly informed us that they had found the only 'hilsh within a 100km radiush!').
Some of the group chose to sit at the back and do as little work as possible, despite having abuse screamed at them. We were 2 mins down on the lead bunch of 16 and only managed to make up about 15 seconds on them by the time we finished the bike.
Some of the girls in this bunch got out of the water 30 seconds ahead of me but finished 2-3 minutes ahead overall, so it just shows what a difference a fast swim can make.
The run was 4 laps of 2.5km circuit through the small town of Holten. It was a roasting hot day, but on each lap they had 2 water stations and ladies handing you sponges as well as sprinklers to run under. This made the run, which I was dreading, much more bearable. I even ended up passing a couple of girls, which was a big surprise.
All in all it was a great race and a real eye opener to the competition abroad. Out of 34 starters I finished 20th. Not a great result, but I was pleased with the time and I picked up some potentially valuable ITU points. The race organisation was brilliant and I would recommend it to anyone prepared to swim fast!
PiranhaTri
http://www.piranhatri.com/article.php/20050718180046750