Race 14: Sprint triathlon Parthenay 26th August 2007

Last year our team had raced here in the team timetrial stage of the grand prix series. This year it was an individual race over pretty much the same circuit. Water was much cooler this year but no more deep, as you can almost stand all the way around the course. I didn’t get a real flash swim start then ran out of breath trying to make up for it. I ended up on the inside rope of the course and when we made the far U-turn of the course and headed back the way we had come, at on coming swimmers, combined with the ones already hitting me nearly caused my death. I was hating life and was sure I never wanted to participate in any sport that involved getting wet ever again. Thankfully this anoxic feeling past after about 300m of semi freestyle, semi breaststroke, where I would have jumped in the rescue boat could I have seen it, and I was able to swim better for the remainder of the course. I got out the water in about 8th but pretty far back in the overall time of the race. The bike course is pretty solid in Parthenay and I rode as hard as I could for all but the last few kilometers, passing everyone bar Stephan Bignet, who could have ridden with one leg and still won. I was passed by one guy on a full time trail bike with aero helmet and big pressure socks. Given the set up, I assumed he was part of a team and as he took off up the road and out of sight at a speed I could barely drive at, I kept my motivation from crumbling by falsely believing my misguided assumption. Stephen Nicholson (Aus/Irish guy from Saint Avertin) and Aurelien Lescure joined and passed me and I entered transition just with them. One the run Stephen told me he had a black card for drafting and needed to do a penalty loop. It was not just him. Half his team met the same fate. I had run away from Lescure so after Stephen left I was on my own, puzzled why everyone kept saying I was “troiseme” (third), when in my mind I was comfy second. I crossed the line in this state, went to the refreshment tent only to see Stephan chatting with team guy. Had he done the run also?? It was a guy from Stade Poitevin Tri, Simon Billeau, that had swam pretty bad then ridden 2 minutes faster than me over 20 km and beaten me by nearly one minute. I completed the race wearing a handle bar moustache and aviator type mirrored sunnies toped of with a retro headband. There is a little bit of Tom in all of us. Result from race 14: 3rd

Lesson learned: Know who is in the race.