My Triathlon Journey

Last weekend I was racing at Lake Molveno in the Italian Dolomites for XTERRA’s final World Championship in Italy before it heads to New Mexico in the United States next year.

The previous two weeks hadn’t been the greatest, suffering with illness off the back of the European Triathlon Champs in Austria, two weeks ago, whilst not being 100% there. With XTERRA Worlds being my last race of the season I looked to try and recover and race XTERRA Youth World Champs, and get there in the best health/shape possible.

I was able to get my cold symptoms to clear for race day which was a good thing and well handled in prep given the situation but away from that the weather was looking very wet on Friday, having got there Thursday evening just as it was getting dark. The bike course recce the next day proved how churned up the course had gotten and then the elite race the day before mine, on Saturday emphasised that even more as even they had to run up the mountain climb because of the mud and steepness.

Race Day

Race day it was sunny and warm which was a contrast to the previous days but made for some more bearable temperatures in the clear water.

With a very crowded start, with Youth B and Juniors all vying for the best position on the start line, I managed to get my way to the front, but unfortunately with that and more than two people deep at points I got pulled back within two strokes from either side, however the benefit was that I quickly found clear water and pushed hard to keep working my way up the field, coming out the water 11th overall, and having a proper solid swim.

Starting the bike and when the climb started is where the last few weeks really started to take their toll. Somewhere where I’m strong, my legs were struggling again like a couple weeks ago, and I started losing places just unable to cooperate and work efficiently, however I had in mind that anything can happen and not to give up and I took on some nutrition to use as anything I had to help.

By the road, 6km into the 10km climb, I’d dropped to about 30th and was thinking how I really didn’t want to finish this far down yet was hurting a lot and giving everything I had and needed something to change my position. Then it started getting technical and muddy and then I started gaining position again, this time gaining momentum as people were forced to run and I was able to do so a bit better than everyone else, and overtaking people on the muddier and more technical climbing sections I could ride as well.

By the top of the mountain and just the descent of the 16km bike to go, I found myself having gained all the places I lost in the technical and muddy section of the bike and back up to just outside the top 10 overall, and gained one more place on the descent by taking an off camber high line to overtake the rider.

Out T2 I was 11th but starting the run I could open my legs up well on the initial flat and felt stronger running and my legs, just focusing on gaining as much time as possible despite there being a fair gap to the leader. My run effort paid off, gaining time, setting the fastest run split of the day by over a minute and a half and two and a half minutes quicker than 1st and 2nd, which was enough to see me move up to 3rd overall and cross the finish line 3rd Youth B and Junior.

I was completely spent by the end but couldn’t be happier with the result as the week prior had been one of the most difficult, being ill, and Wednesday morning of the race not meant to be going out as I didn’t have the money to afford it, however the generosity of a family member saw things change and yet just proves another reminder of why never giving up is so important and that anything can happen, which happened before and during my race!

Thanks and Concluding

3rd in the world is a result I am extremely happy with anyway, but especially knowing how hard things were with the difficulty I had in the run up, yet not giving up and determination got me to a World Championship podium so it was absolutely worth it!

Thank you to those who supported in the GoFundMe too as my bike was only fully working by a few days before and rideable, but was in time for the race and whilst not the most ideal at least it was sorted and that wouldn’t have been possible without that support.

A special thank you goes to Parkers Car and Truck Rental who helped us with a vehicle to travel down to Italy last minute when we didn’t have one.

I couldn’t thank those who supported me enough, but I’m taking a week period of proper rest from training now which is best for my body having pushed it very hard these past few weeks and last weekend, and that caps out my most successful triathlon season yet with my major goals achieved too!

Thank you very much for everything from everyone who helped and those especially, who know who they are!