Compte rendu de course d'Anna Cleaver: NZ Long Course Champs

2011-01-12

Argon 18 est heureux de présenter le compte rendu de course rédigé par Anna Cleaver à la suite de sa participation au Long Course Championship de Nouvelle-Zealande. Anna a livré une excellent performance et a terminé en deuxième position, à 1m04 de la gagnante, Joanna Lawn.

Anna Cleaver - race report NZ Long Course Champs January 2011

The build up

I prepared for the race in Taupo with family (who I am very grateful to for being so understanding over the Christmas / NY period as I focussed on my training). Prior to Taupo I had a fun ride and run with Frank Clarke and James and Mark Bowstead. These guys are awesome athletes who faced a bit of bad luck in the race but I am sure we will hear more about them in 2011.

Race day

Mount Maunganui is one of my favourite spots for a holiday and this is a half ironman that has been on my wish list of events to do (and do well at) for many years. I remember sitting with my good friend Luke about 4 years ago and saying to him I would love to go back to NZ one day and do that race and do it really well. When I said that I had never run a half marathon and a 50km ride required a nap afterwards…

The swim, 25minutes, 1st Female, 2 ½ minutes ahead of next female
The swim is a two lap course, with a run turnaround. The kiwi boys swim quite aggressively so it was hard to get a good spot and I got a bit stuck on some slower feet. I think the toughest part of the swim was the run around the Blue Seventy turn around after 700m! The water was very shallow so the legs weren’t so happy with the water running before lap 2 began.

The swim was reasonably scenic as we dodged small boats and were watched by the many spectators on the right and the tourists staying on the very big cruise ship that docked a little after 6am on our left.

I tried the Blueseventy Helix wetsuit for this race and loved it. For those of you that haven’t seen this wetsuit it has a reverse zip from what you would usually expect. This has two advantages - it is very easy to get the wetsuit off and no matter how hard a fellow competitor might tug on the zip cord, the wetsuit will not unzip!

The bike, 90km, 2hr19
Port Macquarie Half Ironman gave me the con?dence to ride strong and ride by myself, regardless of what is happening behind me with groups forming. Jo Lawn is undoubtedly NZ’s best female Ironman athlete and is a powerhouse on the bike. Bek Keat is one of the best female athletes in Australia in this distance and the Ironman distance. Both girls are strong cyclists so a solid ride from me was needed. But to be honest, I forgot about what was going on behind me and focused on my ride. I exited the water with a group of males that included Cameron Brown, NZ’s most successful Ironman. I wasn’t going to attempt to ride with those boys so rode at my own pace by myself for quite some time (until Jo Lawn’s husband caught me!). I maintained a solid speed without overdoing it. Given it was a ?at course it was important to not go out too fast.

The run, 21km, 28mins
2 laps of a 7.5km at run and 3km undulating track run around the Mount. I loved the run. The crowds of supporters yelling my name were amazing. My friend Sarah had some bad luck with punctures in the race but this didn’t stop her yelling the loudest “Go Anna” I have ever heard as she blistered along on her own run.
I received feedback and cheers from my family, friends and my dear friend Jack Ralston. Sydney friends Bonita and Steve offered amazing encouragement as did the soo many kiwi friends there. Thank you so much!
I think experience counts for a lot on this course, including knowing how to attack the trails around the Mount. For the ?rst half of the run I felt fantastic. The legs fell off around the last lap of the Mount though which is when Jo Lawn went past me at a smoking pace. My head and heart wanted so badly to go with her but my legs won that argument and Jo successfully gapped me to deservedly claim the winner’s trophy.

The finish, 2nd, 4hours16
4hours 15 for Jo Lawn and 4 hours 16 for me. Quite a few of the reporters suggested I must be disappointed to have led the whole way and get passed with just over 10 minutes to go. They couldn’t be more wrong... I was thrilled to be second to a world class athlete and I enjoyed the battle upfront.

What is next…
I will be training with my coach Siri Lindley and focusing on the WTC 70.3 series for the ?rst part of 2011, in Australia and overseas. But for the next few weeks my incredibly supportive employer Telstra needs me to put my head down at work!
Thanks everyone for coming along on the path with me so far. I’m hoping it is only the start of the journey.

Anna

[argon18, Retour aux archives de nouvelles]