Having travelled to Taiwan last year to race, I knew the trip to China was going to be a challenge. Dealing with strange food, a different culture and a foreign language is exciting but also confronting when trying to prepare for a race. Accommodation and transfers were provided for us which made things a little easier and I arrived with a couple of other Aussies.
The days preceding the race were spent recovering from the flight, getting accustomed to the food and the Chinese way of life, finding the supermarket to get some slightly more "normal" food to eat before the race, and checking out the race course.
The traffic was totally crazy (trucks, buses, cars, scooters and bikes going here there and everywhere, ignoring red lights and even going up the wrong side of the road!) so with the exception of the course familiarisation the day before the race I didn't manage to get out on my bike before race day. There was also no swimming pool in Chizhou (well, no kept swimming pool... we did find a rather derelict one at a school) which meant keeping any sort of training routine up was difficult. Fortunately there was a really nice park just down the road from the hotel which provided a great place for running.
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| Willow Park on the QingXi River |
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| The pool; vegie patch on pool deck; pool sign (pretty accurate description) |
Not wanting to wear myself out or do anything silly before the race I didn't do much other than a bit of running and sitting around the hotel in the days before the race. Starting to get a little bored I was very glad when race day came and my trip finally had some purpose.
It had been cold and damp since we'd arrived but race day brought the wettest weather yet. Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time we had to head down to the race but the roads were still soaked with large puddles (and one particularly deep one stretching across the whole road!) covering parts of the bike course.
With race start at 11:15 I headed down to the race at about 10 with the other Aussie girls. Registration and bike check in China style were very relaxed. Our bike dimensions were checked against a plastic pole and transition was un-manned - anyone could have walked in!
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| Race area set up |
Being ranked 2nd and with Ellie Salthouse who was ranked 1st relegated to last position on the start line for being late to race briefing, I was the first athlete to be introduced and got to choose the first spot on the start line. It's not that big a deal but as I'm used to being half way down the start list it was a good feeling and gave me a boost going into the race.
The swim was a 2 lap pontoon start with an exit out of the water onto the pontoon to start the second lap. Not wanting to get caught up in any potential tussles at the start of the swim I started out hard but was surprised at how quickly I found clear water. When I reached the first buoy I was sitting in behind fellow Aussie Maddi Allen's feet with two Chinese girls beside me and already a gap to the rest of the field. The three girls slowly opened up a gap on me and by the end of the first lap I was swimming by myself. I was conscious to keep my pace up through the second lap hoping to be able to bridge back up to the leaders on the bike.
Exiting the water 50sec behind the lead 3 girls and a minute ahead of a pack of 7, I was well and truly in no mans land. It was an unusual position to be in as in every other draft-legal race I've done I've come out with a pack of other girls around me to work with, and any decision to break away has been made once on the bike. This time I didn't have a choice - I was by myself whether I liked it or not! The 3 u-turns per lap on the bike allowed me to gauge where the others were in the race. I could see Maddi and the two Chinese ahead of me but had no idea how far back the others were, or if they were together or spread out. At the first turn I was surprised to see how large the gap I had was but a little dismayed to find a good pack had already formed and I knew they would be motivated to catch me. The two Chinese riding with Maddi soon dropped off leaving her and I riding solo in 1st and 2nd on the road. I could see the group behind me making groud every lap but with the stronger runners behind me I wanted to stay ahead and was motivated to bridge the gap to Maddi, knowing if we worked together we would stand some chance of not getting caught.
I caught Maddi just before the end of the 3rd lap of 6 and we started working together. The gap to the chase pack still seemed to be decreasing, with my counted estimate of the gap getting down to just over 30 seconds. I was starting to get worried we would be caught before the end of the cycle and our extra efforts would cost us with no advantage to show for it. After a couple of kms of working together though we found our rhythm and the pace started to pick up. We stopped losing ground, and then started gaining. Things were looking up. Confident that the gap might be enough to hold off the girls behind and wanting to gain every second I could before the run, I rode hard right up to the dismount line and had the fastest transition I've ever done.
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| Maddi and I approaching the bike turn with the chase group in the distance |
I felt good as I headed out on the run. I settled into my rhythm quickly at a solid pace but not break-neck to avoid blowing up. Given the speed difference between the bike and the run, what looks like a huge gap on the bike does not look that big at all on the run, and when I hit the run turn halfway through the first lap of 4 I was surprised to see how close the girls were behind me already. I was still confident I could hold them off and pushed the pace out of every turn to try and keep my speed up. I could see I was keeping pace with Ellie Salthouse and Laura Wood who were running together in 3rd and 4th but that Kirra Seidel was making ground on me. I wasn't concerned until the 7.5km turn when I saw Kirra had made up much more ground than she had in the previous laps. I tried to bring it home in the last 2.5km but Kirra was finishing strongly, catching me with less than 1km to go and I was unable to go with her when she ran past. Spent, but happy with my days efforts I finished in 2nd with Laura Wood sprinting it out with Ellie Salthouse to finish 3rd. It was great racing and sharing the podium with girls I have got to know and become friends with through racing and travelling over the past year.
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| myself, Kirra and Laura |
Every race I do overseas is still a huge learning experience, working out how my body responds to travelling, and how to cope with different food, cultures and environments leading into a race. I was really happy to be able to put together a good race under very unfamiliar circumstances, and one that I really enjoyed.
The day after the race I was able to relax a bit and explore the city of Chizhou. A post race banquet was held on Sunday night after the age group race in the Jiarun Gloria Grand Hotel (the race major sponsor) up in the mountain area of Jiuhuashan. It was absolutely stunning driving up there and we got a view of the giant golden Buddhist statue of Ksitigarbha - an impressive sight with the mountainous backdrop.
Unfortunately the journey home put a dampener on the trip, with a 6 hour delay in Hefei making me miss my connection through to Brisbane, resulting in a "bonus" 2 days by myself in Guangzhou. It was a scary and stressful experience, especially given I had no way of contacting anyone at home but I'm definitely stronger for it and have learnt a few things about international travel!
It's now just one and a half weeks until I leave for Europe via Canada where I will race in my first World Cup in Edmonton on 23rd June. I'm super excited as it's going to be a great race with a stacked field of 44 women including current world number 1 Gwen Jorgensen, Olympic Bronze medallist Erin Densham, Sarah Groff who finished 4th in the London Olympics, and former world no 1 Paula Findlay among others!
Gillian
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