Just in case you missed the latest race from the ITU WCS in Madrid, Jonny Brownlee was again in formidable form. He ran away from the rest of the men’s field after a fascinating race not without a little drama. A small group broke away on the bike, working together they got a sizable break on the rest of the field and with Olympic Games qualification up for grabs they stayed away all the way to T2. The little Colombian, Carlos Javier Quinchara Forero, ran himself into tenth making him the first Colombian to ever qualify for the Olympic Games triathlon. Go Colombia!
It seems I jinxed Andrea Hewitt by calling her the favourite in the elite women’s race in Madrid. She had a terrible start but cycled and ran her way up to ninth in the end. There was no Helen Jenkins in the field but Vicky Holland and Liz Blatchford both finished in the top ten which was great for GB. It was a totally different race compared to the elite men’s race with almost the entire field entering T2 together. With 400m to go Nicola Spirig had the best sprint and she pulled away to take the win.
Lance Armstrong is really looking like becoming a formidable force in triathlon. Over the weekend he won the Hawaii 70.3 beating Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack’s course record in the process. It was in the tough and windy bike that Lance did the damage clocking 2:01:46. He is no slouch in the water either exiting in third place in 23:22 and had the fourth fastest run split of the day finishing the 21km in 1:22:30. You can read a post-race interview and check out some pics here and race highlights here. Anyone up for Hawaii 70.3 next year? With Macca blowing his own trumpet before this race and saying he is going to ‘smash’ Lance Armstrong in the Hawaii Ironman later this year I get the feeling LA will be very motivated come 13 October. Will get to see how LA goes over the Ironman distance as he tries to qualify for Kona at IM France – Nice on 24 June.
The next London League event, Hillingdon Sprint Triathlon on 22 July, is now full. The good news is we have a full team! The next event after that, Clash of the Tritons Aquathlon on 19 August, is a great race, very well organised, very friendly and with a fast flat off road run. I don’t think entries are open yet but you can keep checking here and I will keep you posted too. I have also mentioned to Jodie McCallum, organiser of the North Norfolk Triathlon, that we will be bringing our biggest and best team yet. There are 55 entries already so don’t miss out and get signed up here!
We have some exciting new training sessions in the pipeline with our new coaches getting the chance to plan and deliver their own sessions over the next few weeks. More details to come about bike specific training sessions. We have had a lot of interest in the club with new members signing up each week. If you are new and attending your first swim session you will need fins and a pull buoy for most sessions so please bring them. You can bring hand paddles too and we may use those or at least show you how you might incorporate them into your own training.
Enough from me. I hope you have had a fabulous long weekend celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee!
See ya, Tim (LFTC Coach).