The swim was pretty good, I managed to get a good start by placing myself near faster swimmers so I could get the benefit of a draft, which would theoretical make me swim faster than if I just swam on my own. It was quite chaotic going around the first buoy, however I managed to get into a good rhythm therefore finishing in the top 10 which is good for me as I'm not usually one of the fastest swimmers.
I managed to have a good transition, therefore getting the joint fastest split, as I wanted to ensure I got to the front bike pack. Going out of transition there was a small 30 second climb on which I managed to catch many riders therefore putting me in a pack of 6 with only one rider around 10 seconds ahead. For the first half of the 3 km circuit I simply stayed in the pack doing some work on the front trying to catch the rider in front. As the pack went into a technical section I managed to get myself to the front and unintentionally managed to get a gap of around a second and therefore thought on the spot that I should use it as an opportunity to break away, as I knew I was one of the fastest cyclist in the field. I soon overtook the front rider ahead of the pack and with a burst of acceleration sprinted past them ,as I didn't want them to stay on my wheel and get a free ride onto the run. The gap slowly opened up to around 10 seconds and stayed there for the majority of the cycle and into transition. This therefore lead me to get the fastest bike split in the field, and I was also the first runner onto the run course.
The first half lap of the run I used a a slight recovery, as I knew I was not the fastest runner in the field therefore probably wasn't going to stay away from the runners behind for the whole run, therefore wanted to be as fresh as possible when they past me so I could try and stay on their heals. After around half of the first lap two runners caught me although I stayed with them until the end of the first lap. However one of the runners then managed to distance me and the other runner, he slowly ran away from us leaving me and the other runner battling for 2nd and 3rd.The placement came down to a sprint finish which I won, handing me second place and my first podium in a national triathlon race.
Overall I was really pleased with the race, it gave me motivation for the races to come making me more eager to race again and show my true potential.
Date: 10th August 2021