The biggest racing weekend of spring so far for our athletes, races in Germany, USA, Belgium, France, South Africa and Spain! All athletes dying to get into the races, knife between the teeth…

70.3 Sevilla, Spain for Sergio. For Sergio (Pro triathlete) the first big race of the season. After a winter of training looking forward to the races always feels great!

More than ready to get into the race he succeeded a good swim and moved up towards 5th position on the bike. A 5th place which he could keep untill the end of the race! Next up: Marbella 70.3!

Sergio’s race was a good example to look at for our other athletes racing 70.3. David and Georg were racing in Salou (Spain) and put down very strong races. Georg is not a beginner but probably made a huge beginner mistake which he we will never make again…by forgetting his BIBnumber and getting DSQ. Despite that he continued ‘illegal’ and put down a 265NP bikeride followed by a strong run. A pity for him, because he was on his way doing one of his best 70.3 races so far!
David, http://www.neverbackdown.be , is diabetic Type-1. Each training, each race is trial and error but more and more he starts to get everything under control. And also today by finishing 70.3 Salou after a steady and well paced bikeride. During the run cramps came up, but he managed to keep all under control and finish well!

In Texas, USA, also a rookie at the starting line. With a running background (years ago), I was pretty sure finishing the race well wouldn’t be a problem. Bart aimed for a sub 6h time. I estimated 5h. Well…it became 4h56′. It may be said once again, a running background is a good background to start triathlon. If you have a bit of power 🙂

And then, Ironman time for Alejandro. A Spanish triathlete living in London and training 80% of his time indoor, between the 4 walls of his appartment. In Kona ’18 we took already quite a stunning performance by finishing in 9h14′ after a strong marathon side by side with Tony (4th in sprintduathlon Geel yesterday).

Stormy conditions in South Africa, a very rough sea swim in which 2 competitors were found dead. ‘A huge mistake of the organizers to risk these swimming conditions’ according to Alejandro. A short swim with slow swimming times in the pro category says enough I think…Alejandro survived…and even did well.

Before the race tactics were clear, an eye on power and the other eye on the pulse. A consistent bike was performed and wattwise we were spot on it.
I know Alejandro can ride +/- 280watt on IM distance but then risks to run like a chicken towards the finishline. The loss in speed in some % less watts is almost nothing, the gain in running legs can be exponential.
And so it was, moving up to 6th AG positon after the bike with several (+/-20) other athletes still in the game for world champs qualification…his position was perfect. The first 5K of the run he ran the slowest time of all competitors who finished top 10. The last 37K he ran the fastest time of all competitors who finished top10. A consistent HR based pace kept his body under control, never gave him the ‘exploded’ feeling and made him run even faster in the end. With a tough headwind pacing on HR seemed once again the best choice!

Alejandro moved up, came even close to the podium in his AG but finished 4th…and qualified for the World championships in Kona, Hawaii in October. South Africa loves our athletes and our athletes love South Africa…that’s for sure! Astonishing in the overall result:

Alejandro takes 5th AG overall and would have won any other AG

• Alejandro takes 5th AG overall and would won any other AG
• He beats former Pro athletes (who turn AG to grab the Kona ticket of course)
• The fastest marathonrunners also seem to be the fastest overall performers. Running is becoming more and more dominant in the final ranking in highly densified fields.

Season is totally on, and our athletes are back on fire!

Ciao

Jesse