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It
was a huge weekend for me at Ford Ironman 70.3
World Championships as I won the first ever
title. I don’t think the words “World Champion”
have sunk in yet, but I am thrill to to win this
inaugural event.
The
race condition were absolutely ideal – as only
Florida in November can be: The water was calm
and warm, the sky was sunny, winds light and
temperatures in the balmy low 80’s. I had a
solid swim and exited the water about 2 minutes
behind the leader Leanda Cave (2002 ITU world
champion). I got my first taste of Ironman
transitions with changing tents and all the rest
of it and was quickly out on the bike course and
feeling great. I soon moved up to 2nd
place and was feeling awesome on the ride. Then,
at mile 15 a car cut across the course and
sideswiped me of the course and into the
oncoming traffic.
I
lost about 20 seconds getting back over the
median and onto the course again, but I am just
thankful that I had been 1 second faster or I
would have been writing this from the hospital!
The course was on very busy streets on a
Saturday morning and the police just could not
control all the drivers. This is something that
will have to be corrected for next year.
I
emerged from the bike course a little shaken,
but unscathed and came off onto the run and took
the lead at half a mile into it. I never looked
back on the run; but I knew there was a hard
driving Lisa Bentley close behind. I ran flat
out for 21 km and by the final stretch I was all
alone running down the finishing chute to enjoy
crossing the line as the new World Champion, It
was a sweet feeling I will never forget. |
