Monday, August 06, 2007

Nationals Race Report

Drummondville ITU Continental Cup / National Championships
Aug 5th

Race day came with sunny skies, a little bit of wind, great temps (high of 24 C) and NO HUMIDITY! The race was not only our National Championship, but it was also an ITU continental cup, meaning there were valuable ITU points up for grab as well. I was ranked 9th of 42 men on the start line.

I was positioned between DJ Tache, and Jamie Stephenson on the start. I put my head down for the first 10 strokes to try and get some clean water and get to the first turn buoy at the front of the field. I wanted to really push the pace on the swim, in the hopes of getting a small group away on the front, and carry that into the bike.

At the 750m mark, there were only two guys right with me (Sean Bechtel and Andrew McCartney), with the main chase group a little ways back. I continued to push the pace on the 2nd loop, trying to make that gap a bit larger. We ended up having a 30 sec lead out of the water and into T1.

I thought that Sean, Andrew and I were working fairly well together on the first loop of the ride, until we looked back at 7km and saw a group of 8 chasing us hard. We realized then that we weren’t going to be able to stay away, and soon we were 11 guys on the front. Our group included: Jarrod Shoemaker, and Victor Plata from USA, Fancisco Serrano from MEX, and 8 Canadians (Bechtel, McCartney, Baillargeon-Smith, Bryden, Wells, Russell, Tichelaar, Tache).We worked well as a group, trying to widen the gap back to the chase group, so that the race would come down to just our group. We managed to build a lead of 2:30 coming into T2, at which point I knew that I was going to finish 11th overall, 8th Canadian at the worst, as long as I ran solid.

I fumbled around a little in T2, and ended up starting the run in 11th place at the tail end of our group. Dumb move. I lost touch with the guys I needed to run with right off the bat. I struggled on the first 2.5km loop, but managed to come back a bit on the second loop, catching up to McCartney and Bryden. The three of us ran together the 3rd loop, before I fell apart around 7km, when Bryden opened a gap on McCartney, and I fell off the pace. I struggled through the last loop, knowing that I was going to finish 11th. I still ran well enough to score some valuable ITU points (92) which will move me up the ITU rankings a bit. I just wish that I could have run here like I did in Geneva a few weeks ago. I outran a couple of the guys who beat me today in Geneva, but I just couldn’t produce that run again. That’s why we race.

I’m heading back to Vancouver today, staying in Vancouver Monday night. I’ll be busy in Vancouver Tuesday showing the spring 2008 line for 2XU to a few shops, then catching the ferry back to Victoria, and back to training. Next up for me is the ITU Kelowna Continental Cup on Aug 19th, where I’ll be looking for a solid run and some more ITU points.

1 Shoemaker Jarrod USA 01:45:59 00:18:58 0:56 0:54:27 00:53 30:47
2 Plata Victor USA 01:46:08 00:19:09 00:49 0:54:19 00:53 31:00
3 Tichelaar Paul CAN 01:46:47 00:19:07 00:53
0:54:19 00:51 31:40
4 Serrano Francisco MEX 01:47:15 00:19:12 00:51 0:54:13 00:54 32:04
5 Baillargeon Smith Andre Paul CAN 01:47:27 00:19:07 00:53 0:54:20 00:53 32:16
6 Bechtel Sean CAN 01:49:00 00:18:32 00:53 0:54:55 00:53 33:48
7 Tache David James CAN 01:49:12 00:19:10 00:56 0:54:12 00:53 34:01
8 Russell Andrew CAN 01:49:35 00:19:09 00:53 0:54:17 00:53 34:22
9 Bryden Jordan CAN 01:49:40 00:19:06 00:56 0:54:18 00:56 34:24
10 McCartney Andrew CAN 01:49:46 00:18:29 00:56 0:54:55 00:56 34:32
11 Wells Daniel CAN 01:50:36 00:18:28 00:53 0:54:58 00:56 35:21
12 Mackenzie Dan USA 01:52:17 00:20:03 00:58 0:56:56 01:03 33:15
13 Yorke Andrew CAN 01:52:31 00:19:34 00:53 0:56:32 00:53 34:38
14 Woegerer Andrew CAN 01:52:43 00:19:37 00:54 0:56:29 00:58 34:45
15 Hamelin Patrice CAN 01:52:52 00:19:32 00:53 0:56:35 00:53 34:59

2 comments:

DS said...

Awesome job dano. your swimming is awesome. your running will come. you have the best runner's in the sport out in Vic and you train with them all the time. it will come buddy.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dano! You looked great out there, your running is looking good and will only keep getting better....patience. Too bad you didn't get more of a lead out on the bike which would have been nice, oh well can't always get what you want. BUT can you let me in on the secret to the fast swimming, I really need a tip or two, maybe three!!! Would you say "relax", cause that's my advice on the run. Great race, you did amazing and good luck in Kelowna. Sue