New Plymouth World Cup Race Report

Event

25.03.18
12pm start Elite Women

Sprint

750m beach start ocean swim Wetsuit, 4 lap 20km ride with 1km of climbing each lap, 5km mostly flat run

Weather

Rain on the bike leg but fine up on the run, low 20’s. Water 18.5

Result

16th

Splits

1:05:34 – 10:09 / 28 / 36:28 / 25 / 18:01

We were lucky to get to spend a week in New Plymouth in the lead up to The World Cup event on that coming Sunday the 24th of April. It's rare you get so long in a place to settle in pre race, I was stoked as I really love NZ, the people are just so caring & welcoming into their community and really invite you in as one of their own. Not to mention the country side landscapes are breathtaking with snow capped mount Taranaki on one side & the shores of the Pacific Ocean on the other! New Plymouth is certainly not short of a of host of great cafes with awesome coffee and food, it's an all-round win-win for us Triathlete with the perfect training location literally at the doorstep!

Come the weekend I had well & truly settled in & was relaxed and pumped to get going again racing!! The course was another real tough one & I was excited to rip in!! With a cooler wetsuit harbour swim, a technical & hilly bike it was going to be testing with 4 laps of a 5km loop, each with a hard 1km climb within the loop, before a mostly flat 5km run to finish!

Unfortunately, the only thing NZ didn't make picture perfect was the weather this week, hiding New Plymouth’s Guardian Mount Taranaki from us & bringing in some heavy rains & scary storms throughout the week.

As race Day Sunday came along, with us elite women kicking off at midday it looked like the sun would be out… but it wasn't to be today let me tell you I quickly found the slippery wet ground later… Oh Emma!

Kicking off with a great start & lead in the swim, leading around the course before exiting the water with Kasper & Summer Cook onto the bike, there was a big front pack establishing early on the first lap and some athletes just off the back out of the water fought hard over that initial stage to get onto the pack! Lap 1 the rain started to come down and by the middle of the bike the rain had come down quite heavy, leaving the roads wet and slick with some of those fast descents from the uphill climb, and some sharp corners & rail way line crossings!

By the end of lap 3 it looked like our continued efforts to try split the front pack or at least put those hanging on at the back under pressure appeared to have worked well as I thought we had a gap coming down the hill, getting a little carried away and over excitied I was too busy thinking ahead, and with my mind up the road I came into one of the ports slick grave laid corners a little too fast, breaked too late & hit the white line, sliding straight out, flesh gliding on cement as I hit the deck hard.

Ouch! Bouncing nearly straight back up I was hoping to get on the back of the pack as they came past but with a bit of Shakey legs I missed clipping in & getting back on by a few seconds and it cost me the front bunch, with 1 lap to go, battling my way into transition 2 and out onto a long 5km run, with a bleeding hip, shoulder & elbow & possibly the worst- my new lucky Australian trisuit from Mooloolaba ripped! Battling on and keeping my cool to the end, my run didn't fall apart and I finished what I saw as a respectable 16th for a tough day out! It takes a lot more than that for me to throw in the towel!

Sometimes we have to live & learn the hard way, this was one of those times as I coped some fair banter & one stiff trip home on the plane flight the next day- cuts, bruises and impact soreness!!

Emma Jeffcoat26 March 2018