Since the announcement of the Durban 70.3 race in January, racing this has
been high on my priority list. It would be a big race in my home country and
all my friends and family could be there for support. This just added to the
hype for the race and also made the nerves grow even more. This would have been
only my fourth ever 70.3 distance race and the 3rd one for this
year.
The pro field was small with only 6 athletes but the competition still
strong. The race favourite was Stuart Marias, having won a 70.3 during 2014, coming
second in the 70.3 East London in 2015 and winning Knysna big 5 challenge recently. However, I was still determined to have a
good race and perform well. The race started early in the morning and there was
a chilly wind blowing. Coming from an ITU background, my swimming was my
strength and I had to use that strength to the full potential. As I am still
lacking some power on the bike, I needed to have a good swim. As the hooter
went, we were off and the 4 hour adventure started. I felt good during the swim
and pushed the pace the whole way, until the last buoy when I swam a bit off
course, but all in all I was happy. This means one of the 3 disciplines was on
par. But the big test was coming now the cycle leg.
It was the most amazing feeling that I have ever had, leading the bike
on an official Ironman 70.3 race (even only for a while). The feeling was
surreal, but I knew I had to focus and concentrate. I felt good and was feeling
like I was going at a good pace until Stuart caught up. He came flying past
like I was looking for parking. I knew then that the real race was on and I
tried sticking with Stuart, but after about 1km I realized that I wouldn’t be able
to handle that pace. I backed off a bit and the settled into my pace again.
Just before the halfway point the rest of the pro’s caught up. I stressed a bit
there because my 45second advantage in the swim had been wiped away quicker than
what I had hoped for. For about 10km the pace was really high and I was
struggling a bit to keep with the pace, but luckily the pace settled down and
everyone relaxed to more “normal” pacing on the bike. I think everyone realized
that Stuart was in a race of his own and we were competing for the minor places
on the podium.
It would all come down on the run for the rest of us. We all entered
transition almost together. Once I started running I had a bit of extra
adrenaline and went out a bit too fast and eager to run. Luckily after about
2km I realized this and decided to slow down to what I think would be a good
race pace. During the run I slowly moved up in the field and after 8km I was in
3rd position. I thought this would be an amazing result if I can
hold on. This would become quite tough as I felt more fatigued with every step
that I took. The last 6km of the run was pure pain and torture. I suffered a
lot, but couldn’t slow down as the 4th place was hunting me down. At
the last km of the race I was only 30sec ahead of 4th place but I
still pushed to the end, just for a bit of insurance. I am really happy with my
performance. This was the best race of my life thus far and I felt on top of
the world.
Changing to longer distances has been a real challenge but it seems
quite successful thus far. I am enjoying the triathlon more than ever.
My next race will be 70.3 Incheon followed by 70.3 Gurye both in Korea.
This will bring an end to my successful season, but hopefully I can end it on
an even higher note.
Cheers
Rudolf
