from bryankeane.com The last two weekends have seen me racing at the Tiszaujvaros (Tizzy) World Cup in Hungary followed by the ITU World Sprint Championships in Switzerland – two races which last year gave me very mixed results.
Last year’s 56th in Tiszaujvaros was a result I really wanted to reverse and a 7th place in the World Sprint Champs was unfortunately one that I knew could not recreate right now still in this build phase.
Tiszaujvaros is legendary on the ITU circuit for many reasons; a great race, thousands of spectators but the main reason everybody gets so excited is the after party! It’s the only ITU race briefing where more emphasis is placed on the after party than the race…ok that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it does get a lot of attention at the briefing. I had four other Irish athletes travelling with me to Tizzy, a nice change for me to have some company. The race organisers put on a great show and a very well run race. They even have a crazy mascot in a crocodile suit to rile the crowd. I saw the croc and the race commentator hitting the shots at 9.30am that morning in prep for what was to come. It worked, the crowd went wild!
My race this year thankfully was a lot better than last year. I finished 33rd and was reasonably happy with my performance. As usual there were positives and negatives to analyse. The usual UFC fight at the turn buoys really affected my race, I had a rant on Twitter about that one…The swims are becoming more and more dangerous and it’s only a matter of time before there is a serious accident. Every athlete that I race with and have spoken to agrees with me. The ITU possibly believe it’s an athlete’s problem caused by athletes so we have to sort it out ourselves, but I think it’s a problem they need to address and very soon – and not point the finger at us. We all have many different views on how to solve this problem but for now I just have to get on with racing and put up with it.
I came out of the water ten seconds down on the main pack. In T1 it was frantic, about 50 of us grabbing bikes and running to the mount line just needing to make that pack. A group of 12 of us just missed it but with some very hard work on the bike we were in after 15km or so.
Knowing my run form is not quite there, I had to take any opportunity I could so with two laps to go on the bike I attacked with two others and got away. I had a mixed run, a much better few opening kilometres than previous races and there was a real chance for a top ten finish. However, the legs kinda deserted me for the second and third laps as the heavy bike load took a lot out of me and that strength is just not there right now.
I managed to put together a good last 3km on the run and thankfully the legs started turning over with decent speed and I took 33rd place. The next race was to the airport, with only 40 minutes until my transfer to the airport and an evening flight. It was another race against the clock to pack the bike and not miss a flight. The notorious Tizzy after party would have to wait for another year.
2011 Lausanne ITU Elite Sprint Triathlon World Championships
Last Saturday I was back in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the World Sprint Champs. I finished seventh there last year which has been my best result ever at a World Champs.
This year they incorporated the race as part of the ITU World Championship Series. The course in Lausanne is fantastic, warm crystal clean waters, a fast and hilly bike course, and a truck load of spectators to cheer you on – it’s such a beautiful place to race. I had joked with the guys racing that because it was my birthday on race day they had to let me win. They didn’t play along. I didn’t have the best race and finished 50th.
My own mistakes in transition cost me a better place. I had a terrible T1 and lost ten seconds which meant I missed the chase pack. My group of 20 or so guys ended up being the second pack on the road, a stupid mistake which cost me dearly. We rode hard and just held the same gap through to the front pack, unable to make any inroads in the short 20km max effort.
Sprint races are over so fast with first to 50th crossing the line all within 90 seconds of each other. You don’t want to get a 15 second penalty as it will severely affect your finish place, one slip up and you can go from 10th to 25th.
Johnny Brownlee retained his World title from last year, and it was good to see him getting one over on his older brother. As for my race and the slide back down the positions, well it just motivates me more to get this race right next year and get back up into the top ten
Last year’s 56th in Tiszaujvaros was a result I really wanted to reverse and a 7th place in the World Sprint Champs was unfortunately one that I knew could not recreate right now still in this build phase.
Tiszaujvaros is legendary on the ITU circuit for many reasons; a great race, thousands of spectators but the main reason everybody gets so excited is the after party! It’s the only ITU race briefing where more emphasis is placed on the after party than the race…ok that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it does get a lot of attention at the briefing. I had four other Irish athletes travelling with me to Tizzy, a nice change for me to have some company. The race organisers put on a great show and a very well run race. They even have a crazy mascot in a crocodile suit to rile the crowd. I saw the croc and the race commentator hitting the shots at 9.30am that morning in prep for what was to come. It worked, the crowd went wild!
My race this year thankfully was a lot better than last year. I finished 33rd and was reasonably happy with my performance. As usual there were positives and negatives to analyse. The usual UFC fight at the turn buoys really affected my race, I had a rant on Twitter about that one…The swims are becoming more and more dangerous and it’s only a matter of time before there is a serious accident. Every athlete that I race with and have spoken to agrees with me. The ITU possibly believe it’s an athlete’s problem caused by athletes so we have to sort it out ourselves, but I think it’s a problem they need to address and very soon – and not point the finger at us. We all have many different views on how to solve this problem but for now I just have to get on with racing and put up with it.
I came out of the water ten seconds down on the main pack. In T1 it was frantic, about 50 of us grabbing bikes and running to the mount line just needing to make that pack. A group of 12 of us just missed it but with some very hard work on the bike we were in after 15km or so.
Knowing my run form is not quite there, I had to take any opportunity I could so with two laps to go on the bike I attacked with two others and got away. I had a mixed run, a much better few opening kilometres than previous races and there was a real chance for a top ten finish. However, the legs kinda deserted me for the second and third laps as the heavy bike load took a lot out of me and that strength is just not there right now.
I managed to put together a good last 3km on the run and thankfully the legs started turning over with decent speed and I took 33rd place. The next race was to the airport, with only 40 minutes until my transfer to the airport and an evening flight. It was another race against the clock to pack the bike and not miss a flight. The notorious Tizzy after party would have to wait for another year.
2011 Lausanne ITU Elite Sprint Triathlon World Championships
Last Saturday I was back in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the World Sprint Champs. I finished seventh there last year which has been my best result ever at a World Champs.
This year they incorporated the race as part of the ITU World Championship Series. The course in Lausanne is fantastic, warm crystal clean waters, a fast and hilly bike course, and a truck load of spectators to cheer you on – it’s such a beautiful place to race. I had joked with the guys racing that because it was my birthday on race day they had to let me win. They didn’t play along. I didn’t have the best race and finished 50th.
My own mistakes in transition cost me a better place. I had a terrible T1 and lost ten seconds which meant I missed the chase pack. My group of 20 or so guys ended up being the second pack on the road, a stupid mistake which cost me dearly. We rode hard and just held the same gap through to the front pack, unable to make any inroads in the short 20km max effort.
Sprint races are over so fast with first to 50th crossing the line all within 90 seconds of each other. You don’t want to get a 15 second penalty as it will severely affect your finish place, one slip up and you can go from 10th to 25th.
Johnny Brownlee retained his World title from last year, and it was good to see him getting one over on his older brother. As for my race and the slide back down the positions, well it just motivates me more to get this race right next year and get back up into the top ten
