By Richard Ussher
It’s been a glorious few weeks over here which has made the training a lot easier than it would have been back home. But a chilly north wind blew in yesterday and saw the down jackets pulled out once again. I guess that’s what happens when you’re less than 500km from the Arctic Circle.
Race day and it was just a short drive up to Nurmo where the race was taking place. The course hadn’t been released prior to the race so straight after getting the maps it was off for a quick scout. The swim was 1K - two laps of small lake, the MTB 24km - 3 laps of a surprisingly technical course which was mainly comprised of rutted single track and XC ski trails which the final run 7.5 km - 2 laps on some other XC trails – minus the snow of course.
Training has been going well and this was really a chance to test where things are at a week out form Roth. Not much I can do now either way but I always like to have a small hit out before a big event so the timing was perfect. It was also the stage for Elina’s first ever triathlon with a swim in it – all be it a slightly social affair with the short option being a 150m swim.
Being in Finland everything is in Finnish and although mine is slowly improving when they talk fast – which is always, I can’t understand a thing. I managed to miss the briefing, not that I would have understood it anyway and then once Elina had left for her start I was consigned to guess work to figure out the rest of the starting procedures.
The start was the usual melee of arms and legs, and I was suffering like a dog as usual after only a minute or so. I did however manage to get a good draft to the first buoy at which point we did almost a 180 degree turn and I lost the draft. I didn’t seem to be losing too much time from there and slowly worked back up. In the second lap I got into a good draft and was able to relax for the remainder of the swim.
The leaders didn’t seem too far away and out of the water I was reasonably happy with things. I lost a few seconds after I was chased by an official to give the swim cap back – I think they were using them to record the times while ensuring they can use the same caps next year, smart move in a recession.
Onto the bike and I quickly made up a few places but was sure there must be someone still in front but I could never see them and soon we started passing social riders so the confusion was complete. The course started off fast but as soon as we headed off track it was very twisty and rooty in places with other sections rutted out from and a lot of bumps and humps that continually broke the rhythm.
I was giving it full gas and was sure now that I must have been mistaken but on the end of the second lap I finally got a split – 3 min down. I wasn’t actually sure I’d heard it properly but set about giving it plenty more effort for the remaining lap.
Onto the run and now the split was almost 4 min, not helped by a less than graceful bike dismount resulting in the loss of a MTB shoe. With less than 8 km and not a lot of hills it was looking like it was going to be an uphill struggle to get close.
I was feeling good on the run and after the first lap I’d whittled the difference down to 2:50, I was catching him but not nearly fast enough. By the end of the second lap I’d pushed for all I was worth but I still came up a minute and a half short in second overall.
The Winner was a Finnish Athlete called Mikko Vastaranta who competes pretty regularly on the European Xterra circuit and is also a pretty handy swimmer and MTBer by all accounts.
Elina’s outing started with it sounds like a fairly similar degree of pandemonium, but this may have been due more in part to the swimming skills and general trepidation that it sounds like accompanied most of the competitors of whom many were in a similar predicament to Elina – namely not being overly confident swimmers.
Elina Made it through the swim and achieved her goal of not getting the wooden spoon, and once on dry land set about demolishing the rest of the social field. It was a great first step for her to take and maybe she’ll get the bug to keep at the swimming for some future racing options.
All in all it was a good day out, a great course and the cold was all but forgotten during the racing. It’s always disappointing when you don’t win but today I was just beaten by someone who was faster on the day – and I definitely didn’t feel like I had a bad day.
So one week to go before Challenge Roth in Germany. I must say there are a few nerves building and it should be a great experience. The hit out was good but left many questions still with a big question mark – I still lost over a minute in the swim despite all the training pointing to marked improvements in my speed, so how will I fair over almost 4 km’s? At least the run felt good and although the bike wasn’t great today it was also quite technical and apart from one ride last weekend in a race all my riding has been on the TT bike of late.
Also the new site is basically ready – for a sneak peak go to www.adventuresportnz.com/site/ and check it out. It’ll be getting refined as we go so if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to drop me a line.
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