The London Triathlon is the biggest mass participation triathlon in the world with some 12,000 competitors taking part this year at the event in the Docklands. The race does get some stick from a lot of triathletes because it is so big, expensive and the number of people on the course can make it quite hard to have a good race. To me though, the London Tri is a unique experience where you get to ride at top speeds along closed roads in the centre of London (the bike route goes all the way to Westminster on closed roads). The finishing area is also always full of crowds and you always get to see a lot of friends while you are there.
After winning my age group in last year's race, I decided that this year I would need to move into the special wave that they have created for athletes who have a proven performance history. To get into the sub 2:30 wave, you need to show evidence of having competed at this sort of level in the past.
Come race day, I was feeling pretty good. I had suffered from the "swimming fear" during the week leading up to the race and had been to the pool about 5 times in a desperate attempt to get my swimming fitness up to scratch. In the end this paid off though and I exited the water in my best ever time of 21:52...the person in the background of this photo is someone who would normally beat me by about 1 min out of the water anyway...I was actually quite surprised that I had been able to swim that fast.
When I got into the massive hall where our bikes were all held, I also noticed that I had beaten Charlie (from our BananaMan team) out of the water and also another chap from my club who would normally beat me...things were looking good.
The problems started pretty soon on the bike though...as a result of that fast swim, I quickly found myself riding very close to a number of athletes who can unfortunately ride just about as fast as me. Along with Martin and Charlie, who can bike very fast, we were also joined by two other chaps who I am pretty sure are not able to put down the same amount of power as we are. So, for most of the race, the 5 of us road in close proximity. There were times when I was aware that I was in positions that could be construed as drafting (basically, taking pace or slipstreaming someone else) I tried my best to move out of these positions as fast as I could, but I was definitely not going to put the brakes on. As you can see from some of the photos below, the chap sat behind me is definitely slipstreaming me...basically, cheating!
Anyway, I managed to finish the bike in what I thought was second place, we had been behind the lead motorbike for the last few km, so it seemed plausible. Unfortunately, out on the run, I realised this was not the case as we saw the lead guy storming round the run course at quite a speed. I had lost another couple of spots going out on to the run so was now in 4th place. I got 2k into the run though and my right foot started to hurt, I had obviously done something jumping off the bike at speed. It got worse and worse and eventually I started to walk for about 20metres. My mate Dion just passed me but I knew that two others were hot on my tail so I started to run again. Funny enough, it cleared up and by about 4k...I was back on the case. I could see Dion ahead of me and I tried to keep him in the same position. At the turns I noticed that Scott and Martin were not going to catch me, so the 5th place was in the bag. In the end, the run (taking into account the stopping) was not too bad with a 38:07.
At the end of the day, I was pretty pleased with the 5th place, I had trained hard, raced hard...I would like to have thought that I could have held out for 4th without the foot problem. I had also managed to finally break the 2hr mark (1:57:55) for the Olympic triathlon, albeit, the bike was 2k short here so not a real result. Still, I was pleased.
It was not until late at night thought when I was having some nice food and wine that the bad news came through. My mum texted to say that I had been disqualified for cheating on the bike. Apparently, one of the British Triathlon officials had decided that I cheated and that was it, I was DQ'd. Normal procedure is to have some warning that this is gonna happen, alas this was not the case. The main problem for me, is that I know full well that I am able to ride my bike at that speed on that course...all my previous results point to that. Thankfully, the person sat on my wheel in the photos above also got DQ'd. Some others in close proximity to me did not get DQ'd though. At the end of day, I was livid though, this was probably my best ever performance in a triathlon and I have been marked as a cheat...from the bike section as well, if there is one place I don't need to cheat, it is on the bike.
There is no comeback on these decisions though so it is left to stand. My only hope is that things finally do come together for an amazing performance in Hamburg in a few weeks time. I know that I am fit at the moment so, if all goes well, it should hopefully be a good one...barring, I don't crash, get a puncture or get DQ'd!
3 comments:
Mate, that's outrageous! I thought slip-streaming was all part of the game. Still, 5th place with a dodgy foot is a hell of a result - well done! (Cheater)
That sounds pretty harsh mate, especially as you tried to avoid it! Surely slip streaming is good use of initiative though? Does that mean they all get DQ’d on the Tour de France when they ride in packs?
You knew you did nothing wrong so screw the officials and pat yourself on the back for coming fifth, even with foot knack!
Good luck for Hamburg mate. After all these incidents surely you are due some!
No, they are allowed to ride in packs in the TdF...different kind of race really. We do what is called time - trialing...just one man against the clock.
Yes, let's hope for an incident free German adventure.
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