|
|
|
 |
||||||
|
Medexpress Half Ironman, USA - 25th of June 2006Back In Form And On The Podium at the Medexpress Half Ironman!Dear Sponsors and Friends Yesterday I competed at West Virginia in the Medexpress Half Ironman! After the Jet Ski incident at the Eagleman 70.3 Half I nearly chucked in the towel. I was concussed from the blow to the Head and had a few compression cuts. June had been a tough month as after Baja Mexico I found out that I had an Abscess in my left rear molar tooth and had to have that removed so thought I was done when a Jet Ski hit me.  I came back to West Virginia as the defending Champion of last year but knew it was going to be very hard to repeat as Chris Leigh had signed up and is in the best form I have ever seen him in. Also he was going to take it to me as he now has a 5 week break and I'm building up for Ironman U.S.A on the 23 July the same day as Ironman Germany.Other than the Kiwi/Aussie rivalry, the field was weak because of the number of prize money races this weekend. I had hoped for the record temperatures 97f of last Year as that would be my best chance of beating Chris as I thrive in Hot conditions unfortunately I race conditions were cool and wet. The race got off to an awesome start as I smashed the swim and had opened up a good lead, which I knew I would have to try and achieve. I settled into the ride well and felt good the course is very hilly and similar to the course that I will face in Lake Placid in just over a month. Everything was going great but coming into the finish of the first lap Chris had chased me down and I knew then it was going to be hard to hold him off. I gave it my best but the missed training really started to show as in the hilly section he was really pulling away I kept pushing as hard as I could but came off the bike 4mins down; way too much for the calibre of runner that Chris is. The good news was that I was 10mins ahead of 3rd place so I set out on the run and tried to make up time. I gained a little on the first out and back but Chris looked really good so I just settled into a good pace and didn't smash myself. One good thing is that Chris didn't break my course record of 4hrs 10mins. Tonight I fly out to France to Train with Cameron and the other Kiwi's at the NZ Triathlon base in Lummox France. Race Results:
Kind Regards - Bryan Rhodes |
|
|
|
|
|
| © 2008 Bryan Rhodes - Champion Ironman - Site Map - Hosting by Lardman | ||||||
 |
||||||