5th Overall at Welland!

Quick smile for photographer Sue Sitki as I approached the finishing shoot.

I raced the Welland Sprint Tri put on by MultiSport this past Saturday. I was anxious to race again because my results had not been as expected at my last race. I had also raced this course last year and it would be a good comparison to see if how my fitness has improved. Leading up to my previous race and continuing after Mooseman, I lost about 7 or 8 lbs as well so I was curious to see how my lighter leaner body could perform. Race day conditions were practically perfect for me. Coolish, overcast and little wind (there was a nice tail wind on the back half of the bike course making for a quick return). Welland is unique as it is a time trial start, meaning one athlete starts 5 seconds after the next. You never really know what position you are in until after most of the racers are finished. I had a good swim, not quite as fast as I would like, but I did have to wait a couple seconds to get out of the water. There was a long 400m run from the swim exit to the transition zone which was on pavement and gravel. Since I didn’t leave shoes at the swim exit, I did it bare foot and my feet suffered, I also had a slower time because I had to walk for part of it. On the bike I felt strong. When I was passed I didn’t sit back and say oh well, but rather I surged again and tried to regain my place. There were a couple ladies in my age-group around the same time as me on the bike, so that kept me focused and determined to keep my head in the game. At the bike turn around the wind was on my back which allowed me to keep pushing hard, finishing the bike in 53:33. I entered transition for the run right behind another woman from my age group, but made it out ahead of her. I knew there was at least one more ahead of me in my age-group, but I wasn’t sure how far ahead she was. I was able to hold a quick pace (4:33 min/km) for my 7.5k run and get in front just after the first turn around. Because of the time trial start, it wasn’t enough to just pass this woman, I had to gain about 50s on her as she started about 10 places back. I crossed the line ahead, but had to wait and see who finished after me to know the results. I placed 2nd in my age-group (someone else that started further back, had a quicker time in the end) and was the 5th female overall. I was very pleased with this result, as well as taking 5 minutes off my time from last year. Next race up: Gravenhurst Olympic Tri.