Tiszaujvaros World Cup 11th August 2007

Hey Hey...

Well it's been a while since my last race report. So that means its been awhile since my last race!! It also means I've had my head down for the last 4 weeks training my butt off in preparation for the Olympic selection race in 5 weeks time. I was back in my favourite training playground Font Romeu, in the French Pyrenees. The weather was great this time ( unlike May ).

I was joined by my Coach John Hellemans and other athletes from his stable, insane enough to take his lashings for this 3 week stint... We were able to get some quality sessions done during our time there. And everything is exactly where we had hoped it would be heading into the business part of the season. Going into this race I had hoped we had found the key to my usual struggle for speed when coming down from altitude. I had done some key sessions at altitude that until this point had only been able to complete at sea level. And so was excited that we had found the mix which we had been searching for the last years up there.

I had did have some bad luck when arriving in Tizy though.. When my bike decided not to join me. I was without my Avanti Team Corsa but there was plenty of others around just like it just a bit smaller of or a bit bigger! Luckily enough for me in Tizy that weekend was Sam Warriner. And she thankfully came to my rescue. I borrowed her bike just minutes after she had taken it to victory in the women's race prior to my own. Once I did some major set up changes I was away and off to the start.

The field had the number one ranked athlete in the world Javier Gomez toeing the line among others. If there is a barometer to go off in our sport at the moment he is it!! I wanted to challenge myself to try and follow him on the run and see where it would leave me. The race went as I had thought it would. The swim was very quick with some small groups forming early in the bike due to the pace in the water. But it all came together pretty soon after that and we got off the bike in a group of nearly 60 guys.

This Is a warrant for a fast run and so it was. After 2k Javier hit the turbo button and dropped us all. I worked back up to him and tried to get in a rhythm I could hold for the next 8k. Just before half way he accelerated again on me and established a 50meter gap on me. This stayed about the same for the rest of the run. Every time I tried to move closer he pushed a bit harder. I held off the rest of the field including Double European champion and last years gold medalist on the Beijing course Fred Beluabre.

So all and all it was exactly what I was looking for. My form from training has transferred across to the race and I was able to race well when I wanted too. Now I have 5 more weeks up my sleeve. I'll try to get a little bit sharper. Find some more speed, and be ready to go in Beijing. This weekend I will race a small sprint distance race in Germany for my club Witten. So until then take care, and speak to most of you soon.

Cheers, Kris