Tiszy World Cup Final Race Report

Event

08/07/18
3.45pm start Elite Women Final

Start number

Sprint distance

3 lap 750m crazy tight pond swim with 8 x lap 20km technical ride through town. 4 x lap 5km run, cross country style.

Weather

Warm & sunny, moderate winds. LUCKY for the women racing before the huge thunder, hail and storm rolled in!!

Result

4th, mixed emotions, Oh so Close! 😊

Splits

59:31 – 9:34/ 0:59 / 31:03 / 0:21 / 17:36

Take 2! Another Sprint race coming straight up, It's deserving of its fame for being one of the toughest World Cup weekends! 2 years ago i raced here for my 3rd world cup event ever & a real breakthrough race for me, finishing 5th with my family there, all over from Australia to watch, and for that reason I've always been fond of Tiszy and the memories it holds, so i was super keen to rip into this Final & make some more awesome racing experiences!

Starting as number 1 again & giving me first pick on the pontoon. I backed my decision yesterday and my ability to "hit it" to the first buoy & selected the same starting number for finals day, knowing the rest of the field would line up on the far right side away form me. Another hectic swim ahead & everyone a little cautious as there were plenty of questionable swim conduct penalties and Disqualifications handed out in the semifinals, making it even more important to get away quick & find my own time & space!

30 girls got off to a clean start, I was happy to execute again on my front end speed & get round the first buoy clear in second behind local favourite & Hungarian National Champion -Bragmeyer who is a strong swimmer. Settling in on her wash having the direct inside line again, setting me up for another calm 750m swim, untouched & counting my blessings for that here in Tiszy!

Hussling into transition 1 just after Bragmeyer, with the 2 of us getting away smoothly first onto the bike, despite our 2 efforts early on lap 1 & 2 of 8, the first of several chasing packs held too many strong cyclists who were motivated from the start but us 2 dangling just in front. Being caught just before the 5km mark, and the race was on!

With a front pack of 15 of us now, it became clear quickly who was going to contribute to the hard & speedy work up frontt to drive the pace, which was Taylor Knibb, Sophie Coldwell, India Lee, Bragmeyer & myself, verse the back 10 who were in to sit on & conserve for the run, and maybe smarter than me, as all is fair in love & war, no rules saying you have to do your share of the work, but that's my racing style, i go hard & i know each race i'm all the more better for it!

Another good "first in first out" transition 2 saw me leading the run off, setting the pace early for the first 1km before the likes of Melanie Santos Portugal & Sophie Coldwell GBR came past and got on the front! It wasn't long before Sophie took the lead & started pulling away, leaving Santos, Chelsea Burns myself chasing behind, I backed off the pace just enough in lap 2 too see me lose too much ground ahead to the leading trio, and despite a strong back end 2km to bring it home with a solid surge back i was unable to bridge those last few meters as i sprinted towards the finish lien to take a tough fought 4th place!

Ouch, that hurts!

The men's event was a site for the ages, with thunderstorms, torrential rain, followed by hail & strong winds blowing the barricades over & forcing the Elite Men World CUP Final to a finish, with no results for the men, disappointing but well managed by the Tiszy Event staff & technical team to make the safe call!

Onward to Hamburg World Series Event next weekend!

Emma Jeffcoat10 July 2018