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Terenzo Bozzone's Journal
Cancun ITU
posted by at 08:53 AM on November 05, 2007
I came to Cancun to get an in depth idea of how and what exactly I would need to do to race at the top of the game. I was aiming to nail the swim and get out with the front bunch, something that is proving to be of utmost importance to those who want to be in contention for the placings. Then I wanted to cruise the bike and have a good run.
Well this is roughly how it went: wearing number 10 I managed to get a good start position which was going to be pretty important as it was a beach start and the positions to the far right were optimal as you could wade about 20m further than those to the left. The start went well, I settled in behind the likes of Whitfield, Docherty, Gemmell and co. and felt I was off to a good swim, but slowly I got pushed back and by the time we cut around the first buoy a group from the left must have slipped past because before I knew it I was in the shit fight with leg grabbers and body slammers, everyone wanting to take the pole position around the turns. The swim was a lot different than any of use are used to, we had to run and duck dive about 100m at the start and a 100m at the finish and another 100m or so between the laps. Who thought duck diving could take that much breath out of you!!! To make matters worse there was a howling onshore wind which chopped up the water and made it impossible to find any rhythm.
The swim finished and I was out the water in about 20th position I ran hard and fast into transition, passed a couple people, had to pick up my helmet that had been blown off my bike and was soon off on my bike. I don’t know why but I managed to be the first person NOT to make the front bunch, great! There was a small group of us that worked pretty hard to bridge the gap but the front guys had the hammer down and soon we were swallowed up by the group behind us. I don’t know what they were thinking because as they caught up they stopped working, why? There were still 20 odd guys up the road. There were a small few who tried to push the pace but nothing lasted longer than 1km, I could see the front bunch coming out of every U-Turn with more and more time and by the end of the bike they had over 3 minutes on us.
Off onto the run and tried to find a fast rhythm, it lasted a couple kilometers then I started to suffer, pushing the pedals too hard on the bike was paying its dividend. I ran as best I could given the circumstances and how I felt and managed to maintain my position to the finish. 24th!
I am definitely not happy with the outcome, all I needed was to be 5 seconds quicker onto the bike and the race would have had an entirely different outcome. But no use talking about it know, its all about the then and there when I need to put it on the line.
Next weekend, the last race of my season, 70.3 (Half Ironman) World Championships, although it is a half ironman not an Olympic distance race I will be going out there to learn as much as I can that will help me when Mooloolaba, which is just around the corner, rolls around.
I will let you know how and when you can follow the race closer to the time.
Have a great week
Kind regards
Terenzo Bozzone
categories: Race Reports
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